9 Nights of Dining ~ Updated: Biergarten and Boma

[Julia M]

Our family of five used the dining plan for 9 night this past December.

Our meals included:
Table Service meals
these were all dinners except Alfredos
Whispering Canyon (5)
Prime Time Café (2)
Luau (4)
Biergarten (3)
Boma (5)
Le Cellier (3)
Narccoosses (4)
Alfredos (5)
Candlelight processional at Rose and Crown(5)
1900 park Fare (5)
Chef Mickey’s (4)

Counter Service (these were all lunches unless noted)
Pecos Bill (5)
Boulangerie patisserie (3) we shared here
Pizzafari (5)
Columbia Harbour House (5)
ABC Commissary (5)
Captain Cooks (2) dinner
Captain Cooks (5)
Main Street Bakery (3) B’fast
Cosmic Rays (5)
Captain Cooks (3) B’fast
Captain Cooks (6) stuff for plane like bagels and drinks

we didn't particularly try to "maximize" the plan....we ate where we wanted, and chose dinner for table service because our kids are older, and we like to go on rides in the a.m., not eat breakfast.

We didn't always order dessert with counter service, or sometimes just ordered 2 and shared. The same with table service......sometimes we didn't
order an appetizer.

We paid $1350, and spent $2058. We also spent $120 above and beyond the plan. This included $40 in kids meals (we ate at two places where my two older kids didn't like the adult menu, so we saved their credits and paid for a kids meal) and $80 in alcohol, one snack (pretzel) and extra tips.

I will have reviews later, but I have tons of laundry to do, and the house is a mess!!

Julia

 

[SamSam]

Wow, that's a great savings. I'm looking forward to your reviews.

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent saving ~ Can't wait for the reviews.

 

[Jennifer_Jayhawk]

I want to also see how much we actually save when we go in May. Do you recieve a bill from the waitress and then apply the credits? I kinda thought maybe you tell them up front that you were on the dining plan and they didn't provide a bill at the end of service.

How does that work--to be able to determine your savings, that is?

 

[slp87]

Sounds like one of your children was considered an adult on the meal plan, but was able to order oop from the kids menu?? I'm just curious how strict restaurants are being about "older" kids ordering off the kids menu in oop situations.

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

I would really love to hear your review of the luau- the food, show, and where your seats were. thanks!

 

[Julia M]

Hi,

I will try and answer some questions.

1. I want to also see how much we actually save when we go in May. Do you recieve a bill from the waitress and then apply the credits? I kinda thought maybe you tell them up front that you were on the dining plan and they didn't provide a bill at the end of service.

You receive two bills from table service restaurants. One you sign and leave at the restaurant, with the totals, including tax and tip. The other is for you, with what you ordered and how many meals you have left, but the dollar amounts all say $0.00. I just wrote on my receipt the total.

At counter service, we usually signed, and then I just wrote it on my bill. For snacks, you often didn't sign, and our receipt sometimes had the amount, and sometimes not. I just figured from Deb's site withy menus when we didn't get a total.

2. Sounds like one of your children was considered an adult on the meal plan, but was able to order oop from the kids menu?? I'm just curious how strict restaurants are being about "older" kids ordering off the kids menu in oop situations.

Two of my kids were adults on the program, one was a child. We ordered OOP at the Prime Time and Le Cellier. There was no issue, but we were honest; we told them the reason we were doing it (our kids didn't like the adult menu choices) Actually, at Le cellier, oldest ds did end up eating off the adult menu.

I had actually decided I wasn't going to "hassle" with sharing meals, or ordering kids meals all the time........in fact, we were "short" one credit for our last night, which was Chef Mickeys......the waitress just charged us for youngest ds, who paid a child's price.

But, we had no problems. In those two cases, I gave an extra tip, to acknowledge the server did us a favor.

3. I would really love to hear your review of the luau- the food, show, and where your seats were. thanks!

I didn't attend the luau; dh took dd and I took the boys to the Biergarten (where they wanted to go). I will ask dh more about it. They loved the food, especially the pineapple coconut bread. DD twirls baton competitively, so she liked seeing the fire baton (she twirled fore baton for the first time this Xmas). I will ask dh more about it


I will try and get going on my reviewss.....I have not been good about that! I have been doing tons of laundry, and we celebrated Xmas yesterday with my family.

Julia

 

[Julia M]

This review starts off on a negative note, as we had an ADR, and after we checked in, and after a 40 minute wait, the staff lost our reservation. After our 40 minute wait, I asked (very nicely) when they thought our table would be up, I was told we were next. So, then after waiting an additional 30 minutes, I asked again, our dining slip was gone.......they had no idea where it was and our "next" table was long gone (keep in mind that we arrived the day before.....there is a 3 hour time difference....we had been at a park that day......we were tired!!!) The staff admitted it was lost and I just about burst into tears. We were seated about 10 minutes later.

So, we were seated, and Candy Cane was our server. Dh and I and oldest ds ordered the skillet dinner. DD ordered the chicken pasta and youngest ds ordered a kids meal, the chicken fingers. Thre three of us didn't get hors doeuvres, as we had the skillet. The waitress encourged us strongly to get dd an appetizer. When we said she wasn't hungry, she encouraged us to do so, but we refused. We just didn't need the food.

We liked the salad and shared with youngest ds. The chicken was VERY good, and ds liked the sausages. Actually, we enjoyed all the food. Ds ate very few chicken fingers and a couple french fries. He did not get a dessert either. DD ordered the Happiest Celebration on Earth dessert....oh my, it was decandent. I ordered the apple caramel pie, also good, and dh ordered the chocolate moose stampede, which for the life of me I can't remember. Oldest ds ordered the kids meal dessert, the chuckwagon, which was basically a cookie with a sundae, but he was happy with it.

We also ordered the milkshakes (4 of us...dh had iced tea)

Fun stuff: Youngest ds asked for ketchup for his french fries.........we ended up with 13 bottles on the table!!!! The kids then enjoyed their turn to distribute ketchup to an unsuspecting diner. Oldest ds (who has quite long, wavy hair), had multiple straws put through his hair. The straws for our drinks were thrown on the table. Two of my kids did the pony ride, and came back with a wooden nickel as their prize. My two younger kids asked for a sponn for their brother, because his milkshare was too think. She brought back a very long, wide straw.

We had a great time......it would have been a better time if our wait time had exceed 75 minutes.

Cost $160.58 (it could have been more...remember....we didn't order one appetizer and one dessert!!)

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your review ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[swankybeth]

Great review to start, looking forward to reading more reviews!

 

[Julia M]

This review is of a restaurant I actually didn't plan on being at. I planned like 95% of our vacation, but dh went to the WDW site, and discovered this place. He really wanted to try it, so I made an ADR. We had about a 20 minute wait (I was starting to get concerned about wait times, as this was the beginning of our trip.....what would it be like around Xmas......but our waits were generally okay the rest of the trip)

I was pretty confident the kids wouldn't like the offerings on the regular menu, and sure enough, they didn't. "Uncle Tim" allowed all both my older kids to order off the kids menu.

Dh ordered the onion rings, and I ordered the Boursin cheese. Truthfully, these were prretty mediocre at best. The onion rings were soft, not fried crisp. The same with the cheese. The Boursin cheese would have been great (IMO) if the breading had been crisp. But we were ravenous, and ate.

For our meal, dh ordered the tuna plate, which he said was fine (not outstanding, but not bad either) I asked our waiter about the pot roast or something else (can't remember) he recommended the pot roast. OH MY GOSH.........it was SO good. It was served over mashed potatoes, with a few slivers of carrots, onions and celery. My only real complaint was that I wish there were a few more veggies. This pot roast was to die for. It was so tender, I broke it apart with my fork. Did I say I liked the pot roast??

When it came time for dessert, "Uncle Tim recommended the s'mores dessert and the Dad's sundae, so we obediantly complied. We shared among the five of us, and enjoyed them both. The kids were amzed at how big they were.

Our kids were first stunned by the behavior of "Uncle Tim", but then began cracking up. Another waitress came over and showed us "Cousin _____'s" plate, and told us how he joined the clean plate club. Uncle Tim also fed my daughter her green beans remaining on her plate (ironically, she likes green beans, but was full)

Another fun meal.....I'm glad dh wanted to try it out.

Our bill was $69.04 for the two meals. We paid OOP for 3 kids meals, and added an extra tip.

Julia

 

[3princesses4us]

Thanks for the reviews. It just goes to show how different people's tastes are. After taking one bite of my pot roast at 50's Prime Time, I decided it had way too many veggies on it and pushed the plate away so that I could finish my fried herb cheese which I thought was heavenly.

 

[Minniespal]

Really enjoying your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Sounds like one of your children was considered an adult on the meal plan, but was able to order oop from the kids menu?? I'm just curious how strict restaurants are being about "older" kids ordering off the kids menu in oop situations.

For the most part, even the really older 'kids', aka adults, can order off the childrens menu. Once in a while a server at a table service restaurant will refuse to let an adult do this, but that's rare. Of course, if you're on the dining plan it simply makes sense to pay oop under this condition.

 

[slp87]

For the most part, even the really older 'kids', aka adults, can order off the childrens menu. Once in a while a server at a table service restaurant will refuse to let an adult do this, but that's rare. Of course, if you're on the dining plan it simply makes sense to pay oop under this condition.

Glad to hear it! We will not be on the dining plan as we are DVC members going before it is available to us, and I was hoping my DD would still be able to get the hot dogs she lives on at WDW.

Loving the reviews!! We've only eaten at WCC once and we were seated off to the side from all the action, which was fine with us at that time. This time though I hope we get in on the fun!!

 

[Julia M]

This review was just for three of us, myself and the two boys, as dh and dd went to the luau.

The Biergarten was a special request from ds, who ate here in 2001. It was his absolute favorite, and we didn't eat here in 2004, so I promised (assured, guaranteed) him that we would eat here.

We arrived early to our ADR, and waited maybe 10 minutes. We sat at a table with a family of five, who were there with the Candlelight Porcessional.

I thought the food was quite good, much better than I expected (or remembered). We saw the musicians, and youngest ds (age 8) was entranced.....he had a great time. He even went down and danced.

Our bill was $88, which included two chocolate milks and a soda. I also paid OOP for a beer. (Which, by the way, was in a tall, slim glass.......youngest ds kept telling everyone "my mom had the biggest beer ever!!!!!")

 

[Julia M]

We ate here 12/21 and the place was packed!! We had an ADR for 6:00, and people in line with us (without ADR's) were being told to try back after 9:00. We were seated within 15-20 minutes (once again, we were early for our ADR), which was fine.......we went into the shop, wandered the lobby.....enjoying ourselves.

I tried this place in 2004, and had to return. The carrot soup.....oh my, it is heaven. My oldest ds ate alot of ribs, and dd tried a variety of foods. It was only my youngest son who ate mac and cheese and french fries. Thanks goodness for the dining plan.......I didn't care, since he was happy.

The one area that I think is "weak" (relatively) in the menu is breads..........I don't even bother, since they seem so ordinary (not like pretzel bread in Germany or Canada )

Myabe it was my imagination, but the tables seemed farther aprt than last time. I just seem to remember backs of chairs being right on top of each other, and it wasn't that way this time.

I love this place, but if you are someone who doesn't like varied tastes (like curry, etc), I'm not sure it's worth it...I would go to a place like Chef Mickey's or 1900 Park Fare.

Our bill came to $157, which was 4 adult meals and one child.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.