- Joined
- Jan 7, 2005
- Messages
- 704
Thursday, December 20th
Breakfast: Tusker House. Since we bypassed our scheduled character meal the previous night at the Garden Grill, I called Disney dining the night before to see if there were any available ADRs for the Tusker House breakfast, and there was one, at 8:10, so I grabbed it. Unfortunately, it was harder than planned to get going the next morning, and when we got to the bus stop, the AK bus was just pulling away. We decided to take a cab rather than chance a long wait before the next one; it was a $20 ride, but we got there on time.
The character part of the meal was a disappointment. It seems like most of DWs character dining meals are restricted to only four characters (in this case, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Mickey); at DL, on the other hand, six is a more typical number. Furthermore, at least here at Tusker House, the character appearances were timed and choreographed to the minute, which gave little room for meaningful interactions. Once the room was full (maybe 12-16 tables?), they brought out the characters, who made not much more than a drive-by as far as appearances go, there was a little conga-line of sorts, and out they went. By that time, most of the room had cleared out as well, so it seemed like they wanted the tables to turn over every hour or so. At DL, by contrast, you dont feel any pressure to leave after an hour, and it is the rare time when you dont sit through multiple interactions with the same character. At Tusker House, I was most reminded of the old character breakfast on the Disney Magic, where if you blink, the character will have moved on, and they certainly werent going to wait long enough (at Tusker House, Donald didnt, at any rate) for you to turn your camera on.
The food, on the other hand, was another story. There was a truly delicious mango-orange (I believe) juice that was a nice change from the omnipresent Minute Maid. For me, the highlight of the meal was an African-inspired, cornbread-topped hash that was exceptional; I could have eaten just that alone and been really impressed. Since we didnt get a chance to go to Boma, this breakfast buffet from a food perspective was vastly superior to the ordinary.
Tip: On your way to the table, there is the obligatory family photo. I blanched at the price (I forget now how much it was), but luckily, DMIL was accommodating and purchased it for us; it was a good picture. When I first asked about photopass, the answer was no. However, after DMIL paid for it, the CM explained that you can add the photopass number, which is on the top of all their printed photos, to your main photopass so that all these purchased pictures can be consolidated; if you choose to buy a CD, these pictures are included. So whenever you get a printed picture as part of a meal package or any other occasion, if there are other occasions, be sure to add them to your photopass before you buy your CD.
Lunch: Restaurantosauros. Even though we knew this was basically a McDonalds, we choose this one because we were in the neighborhood; the kids, especially DS, were having a great time going down the slides in the Boneyard. Also, while other restaurants were mobbed--it was shortly after noon, and this was our first and only time lunching during a peak period--this one was manageable. For the third time, I successfully approached an empty left lane of a register while many people were lined up on the right-hand side. Except for the kids, we were all pretty stuffed from breakfast. Its a bit odd to review a McDonalds, but I will say that I thought the hamburger fixings bar was a nice touch, and the ambiance was pretty nice. The fact that there were available tables without a mob scene made it the right choice.
Dinner: Hollywood and Vine. Probably the winner of the most maligned restaurant on these boards, we chose it as the lesser of the three evils for the Fantasmic package. While I would have enjoyed Mama Melrose, the idea of another sit-down meal with DS filled me with trepidation. While I was not aware of its location at the time, that also would have been a strike against it.
The meal did not start on a great note. Originally, we had a 4:50 reservation, which was the last time they would give us for the 7pm Fantasmic. However, they changed the schedule to add a performance, so there was a 6:30 and 8 instead, so they called to reschedule our dinnertime as well. I moved our dining reservation ahead to 5:10, and we were then assigned the second showing.
At the restaurant, however, we were told that our tickets were still for the first performance and that we had to meet at the backstage entrance by 5:50, giving us only 40 minutes to scarf down the meal. It didnt help that by this point in the trip, DS was pretty much through with making accommodations to his routine, so he kept running around the restaurant, forcing us to eat even more quickly to give him extra attention. I should say that the server said we could go to guest services to try to get our tickets exchanged for the later show, but we really had preferred the earlier one, just with a little more time to eat.
On the positive side, we all really enjoyed the food. It was the first time all five us were out together since Tuesday, though by this point, I was starting to catch the dreaded stomach bug from DFIL, so I wasnt terribly hungry. I still managed to enjoy the prime rib, which was leaner than the usual buffet variety, and the dessert buffet proved very popular as well. The only thing I remember not liking were the peel-and-eat shrimp, which were only of a Bubba Gumps quality.
The night ended with a little pixie dust. Once we got to Fantasmic, we realized that in the rush to eat, we left the set of three Disney buses that we had purchased for DS at one of the MGM shops on Tuesday at the restaurant. After the show, I went back to the restaurant and to lost-and-found, both to no avail. I decided to go to guest services and report the incident, and they were nice enough to provide me a voucher to get a free set of buses, which really made all of us feel better about the whole situation and gave us a renewed respect for Disney.
Breakfast: Tusker House. Since we bypassed our scheduled character meal the previous night at the Garden Grill, I called Disney dining the night before to see if there were any available ADRs for the Tusker House breakfast, and there was one, at 8:10, so I grabbed it. Unfortunately, it was harder than planned to get going the next morning, and when we got to the bus stop, the AK bus was just pulling away. We decided to take a cab rather than chance a long wait before the next one; it was a $20 ride, but we got there on time.
The character part of the meal was a disappointment. It seems like most of DWs character dining meals are restricted to only four characters (in this case, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Mickey); at DL, on the other hand, six is a more typical number. Furthermore, at least here at Tusker House, the character appearances were timed and choreographed to the minute, which gave little room for meaningful interactions. Once the room was full (maybe 12-16 tables?), they brought out the characters, who made not much more than a drive-by as far as appearances go, there was a little conga-line of sorts, and out they went. By that time, most of the room had cleared out as well, so it seemed like they wanted the tables to turn over every hour or so. At DL, by contrast, you dont feel any pressure to leave after an hour, and it is the rare time when you dont sit through multiple interactions with the same character. At Tusker House, I was most reminded of the old character breakfast on the Disney Magic, where if you blink, the character will have moved on, and they certainly werent going to wait long enough (at Tusker House, Donald didnt, at any rate) for you to turn your camera on.
The food, on the other hand, was another story. There was a truly delicious mango-orange (I believe) juice that was a nice change from the omnipresent Minute Maid. For me, the highlight of the meal was an African-inspired, cornbread-topped hash that was exceptional; I could have eaten just that alone and been really impressed. Since we didnt get a chance to go to Boma, this breakfast buffet from a food perspective was vastly superior to the ordinary.
Tip: On your way to the table, there is the obligatory family photo. I blanched at the price (I forget now how much it was), but luckily, DMIL was accommodating and purchased it for us; it was a good picture. When I first asked about photopass, the answer was no. However, after DMIL paid for it, the CM explained that you can add the photopass number, which is on the top of all their printed photos, to your main photopass so that all these purchased pictures can be consolidated; if you choose to buy a CD, these pictures are included. So whenever you get a printed picture as part of a meal package or any other occasion, if there are other occasions, be sure to add them to your photopass before you buy your CD.
Lunch: Restaurantosauros. Even though we knew this was basically a McDonalds, we choose this one because we were in the neighborhood; the kids, especially DS, were having a great time going down the slides in the Boneyard. Also, while other restaurants were mobbed--it was shortly after noon, and this was our first and only time lunching during a peak period--this one was manageable. For the third time, I successfully approached an empty left lane of a register while many people were lined up on the right-hand side. Except for the kids, we were all pretty stuffed from breakfast. Its a bit odd to review a McDonalds, but I will say that I thought the hamburger fixings bar was a nice touch, and the ambiance was pretty nice. The fact that there were available tables without a mob scene made it the right choice.
Dinner: Hollywood and Vine. Probably the winner of the most maligned restaurant on these boards, we chose it as the lesser of the three evils for the Fantasmic package. While I would have enjoyed Mama Melrose, the idea of another sit-down meal with DS filled me with trepidation. While I was not aware of its location at the time, that also would have been a strike against it.
The meal did not start on a great note. Originally, we had a 4:50 reservation, which was the last time they would give us for the 7pm Fantasmic. However, they changed the schedule to add a performance, so there was a 6:30 and 8 instead, so they called to reschedule our dinnertime as well. I moved our dining reservation ahead to 5:10, and we were then assigned the second showing.
At the restaurant, however, we were told that our tickets were still for the first performance and that we had to meet at the backstage entrance by 5:50, giving us only 40 minutes to scarf down the meal. It didnt help that by this point in the trip, DS was pretty much through with making accommodations to his routine, so he kept running around the restaurant, forcing us to eat even more quickly to give him extra attention. I should say that the server said we could go to guest services to try to get our tickets exchanged for the later show, but we really had preferred the earlier one, just with a little more time to eat.
On the positive side, we all really enjoyed the food. It was the first time all five us were out together since Tuesday, though by this point, I was starting to catch the dreaded stomach bug from DFIL, so I wasnt terribly hungry. I still managed to enjoy the prime rib, which was leaner than the usual buffet variety, and the dessert buffet proved very popular as well. The only thing I remember not liking were the peel-and-eat shrimp, which were only of a Bubba Gumps quality.
The night ended with a little pixie dust. Once we got to Fantasmic, we realized that in the rush to eat, we left the set of three Disney buses that we had purchased for DS at one of the MGM shops on Tuesday at the restaurant. After the show, I went back to the restaurant and to lost-and-found, both to no avail. I decided to go to guest services and report the incident, and they were nice enough to provide me a voucher to get a free set of buses, which really made all of us feel better about the whole situation and gave us a renewed respect for Disney.
