10/30 - 11/5 Dining

[DanaHesson]

10/30 Paid out of pocket for this one cause our plan starts on 10/31
Sci Fi ** 1/2
Burger and Ruben, Vanilla shake, onion rings. Shake tasted like a mix, I prefer hand dipped. Rings were excellent, everything else just ok. Cool atmosphere. This one was out of pocket

10/31 Did two counter service today because of MNSSHP (which was COOL!)
Backlot Express **
Two Doulble Cheeseburger meals with Chocolate Cake and two Cokes

Pecos Bills *** (our favorite counter service place, hands down)
One cheeseburger Meal, one Pork Sandwich, two of those yummy peanut butter brownie thingys, two sodas. Yum yum yum

11/1
Pop Food Court
I dont want to give this a star rating because we grabbed a deli sandwich and a salad from the cooler and took it to the room. Both were outstanding, but there was really no service involved, except the very sweet cashier went and got me some crutons from the Cesar Salad station because I mentioned that the only thing it needed was croutons.

Rose and Crown * *
What can I say.... geez....
The service was pretty good. The fruit and cheese plate was excellent, and the grapes that came on it were wonderful. My husband did not care for the prawn cocktail. It was more like a shrimp salad. We both had the steak and fish entree. The fish was very bland, even with plenty of malt vinegar added. The steaks were tender and cooked perfectly, but the sauce or gravy that came on it was very overpowering and just ruined it for us. The desserts (Guinness Chocolate Cake and Citrus Trifle) were OUTSTANDING. All in all, it was ok, but we would not likely go back. Unless it was to get some desserts to go


11/2
Tusker House ***
Three Chicken Sandwiches, One half chicken ( my parents joined us today, so some of the meals will be four people now) Two chocolate cakes, two cheesecakes. Everyone was pleased here. I did not care for the chocolate cake, but my dad liked it. My hubby and mom liked the cheesecake.

San Angel Inn *** (and the best server of the trip, bar NONE!!)
Our server was Miguel and he was incredible. I have not had service of this caliber anywhere, in a very long time. Had two combination plates, and I am sorry but I do not remember what my parents ordered, but everyone was happy. I know that for dessert, everyone but me had flan. I had the bread pudding. Everyone left stuffed and happy.

Enough for now, my fingers are tired. Still to come, Cindys dinner, Brown Derby Dinner, Crystal Palace Dinner.....

 

[shawnzgirl]

I can't wait to hear the rest...

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Can't wait for more.

 

[ScoJo15]

thanks for the reviews!

 

[DanaHesson]

11/3
Backlot Express ** 1/2
Four Cheeseburger meals, four sodas, three chocolate mousse and one no sugar added strawberry parfait thingy.
Good again, and the mousse and the strawberry parfaits are much better than the chocolate bundt cake thingy.

Cindys Royal Table Dinner
Filet Mignon ****
Chicken Breast **
Service ***
Ambiance *****
I departed from my norm, because I had been eating SOO much beef and knew that I would be ordering the filet at the brown derby tomorrow night. I was disappointed in the Chicken breast and bread pudding that was served with it. Both were very bland tasting. That being said the chicken was very juicy and plenty of salt and pepper helped some. My parents and husband all three had the Filet. They all said it was cooked to perfection and an excellent cut. My mom and dad both had the shrimp appetizers, and my husband had the seafood spring roll. Everyone was pleased. I had the kids fruit and cheese appetizer. It was exactly as I expected (which was just ok, but none of the other appetizers appealed to me at all). For dessert, we had two key lime creme brulees, one chocolate cake, and one Fantasy Sundae.
The Raspberry Sorbet was one of the yummiest things I have ever put in my mouth, no joke. I would LOVE to know if they make it there, or if they buy it. The creme brulee was also a big hit, and the chocolate cake was good, but it was really a lot of chocolate. Our server here was Jay, and he was attentive, but not up to Miguel's high standards. We were also dining during Wishes, which was worth the experience by itself. They dim the lights and pipe in the music. Many of the shells are shot from the roof of the castle. It was very beautiful and exciting. I would pay cash out of pocket to do this again, but next time I would order beef, not chicken!

11/4

For lunch today we snacked around the world showcase. We had cheese soup from canada (YUM), perogies from Poland (pretty good), Tortilla (which was a potato and cheese casserole thing from some stand I cant remember the location of), Quiche (THE BEST!!) from france, Cheddar Crab Cake with cranberry slaw ( I LOVED the slaw, and my husband was just as pleased with the crabcake). Lastly we had Pork Potstickers from China. DEElicious!
I had a Disney Visa Rewards card that we used for some of these, and we had been saving up snack credits all week. At the end of this adventure we still had nine snack credits left out of 12, cause I forgot to tell them to use a snack credit in France, and they did room charge instead! I can't tell you about what my parents tried other than the quiche and they stopped in Morocco and had the beef skewers which they really enjoyed. We kind of split up a good bit on the snacking adventure.

Hollywood Brown Derby ***
I have to say, I really liked this one better last year, and would NEVER pay two table service credits per person here again. Three of us had the mesculun and arugula salad, and my husband had the bisque which he described as bland. The salads were fine. We all had the filet mignon with dijon crushed potatoes. The steaks were tender and cooked perfectly, and the potatoes were tasty. For dessert, my parents both had the double vanilla bean creme brulee, my husband had the Happiest Celebration Chocolate thingy (mmmmmmmm ! ) and I had the white chocolate macadamia (spelling?) cheesecake, which was pretty decent, but I wished I had ordered the Happiest Celebration after I tasted it. They also brought out some strange tasting thing for my birthday. It was pretty gross in my opinion, but my dad liked it. I think the thing that disappointed me most here was the service. Last year it was outstanding, this year it was marginal at best. I wont list the servers name, because any number of things could have caused it, but at a place that is supposed to be a Signature restaurant, I expect the table to be crumbed between courses, and all of the dishes to be cleared away. I also expect that the server will walk around the table to serve, not to reach over the guests. I don't expect that type of service at an applebees or fridays or chili's type place, but a place like this should really have top notch service.
I might go here for lunch again because I love the cobb salad, but I will NOT pay to have dinner here again, dining plan or no. (well maybe if they dropped it to one table service credit)

11/5
Columbia Harbor House
Atmosphere ***
Fish * 1/2
Apple Pie ***
My first trip here, and I came because of Dis'er recommendation. Next time I won't order the fish.

Crystal Palace
**** 1/2
The prime rib alone was worth this meal. It is truly amazing that they can maintain the kind of quality that they do on a buffet. I highly recommend that you try the Pulled Pork, the prime rib, and my husband really liked the rotissere chicken. I did not sample the desserts, because I remembered from last year that I really did not like them, and I wanted to save some room for a dole whip. I wish I had done my birthday dinner here instead of Brown Derby. It was so much more fun last year. We did really enjoy the characters, but I was a little disappointed that Pooh was holding court up front and not making the rounds. He is my favorite, but I felt too silly to stand in line with the little ones to hug a person in a pooh suit!

All in all, we thought the dining plan to be an incredible value. I would definently do it again, the only thing I would change is not doing a two credit meal. I will book Le Cellier, or perhaps Cindys for a second night, or maybe even try Liberty Tree Tavern.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We used our final snack credits on cokes for the ride home, and a couple of mickey rice crispy heads. (one of which will probably become my breakfast here in a few minutes)

 

[pennyplanner]

Dana,

Thanks for posting. We had horrible service at BD a few years ago and now my family votes "no" on this one. I ate a solo lunch there in April 2004 and it was great. I agree about the level of service you should expect from a restaurant like that.

Your Cindy's dinner experience sounds divine. No chicken for me this trip. Thanks for the tip!

--penny

 

[DanaHesson]

if you like raspberries, be sure to get the fantasyland sundae or whatever it is called. it was sooo wonderful!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Can you tell me what you were allowed to buy with snack credits at world showcase? I would love to get something besides the popcorn or ice cream they mention in the brochure.

 

[DanaHesson]

We were allowed to buy any of the food items at the food and wine festival. We used the remainder of our credits at check out for mickeycrispyheads and cokes.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Thanks for the reviews!

 

[TwingleMum]

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed your reviews.

 

[JennSaint]

Thanks for posting your reviews!
I have one question when you mentioned a dole whip could you use a snack credit for this or did you have to pay out of pocket?

 

[DanaHesson]

the dole whips are out of pocket. they have things at the stand you CAN use credits for, but the Dole Whip is not included...

 

[ufgator]

Thanks for your reviews!

 

[JennSaint]

the dole whips are out of pocket. they have things at the stand you CAN use credits for, but the Dole Whip is not included...

Thanks for answering my question!

 

[Kaycee]

Thanks for the reviews.

 

[BCV23]

Enjoyed your reviews, Dana.

 

[kathy387]

Cheddar crab cake with cranberry slaw ...where would I find this?!

 

[DanaHesson]

it was at the food and wine festival. The booth was by america. I am going to look for a food and wine cookbook when we go back. My husband and dad both LOVED this crabcake......