A Christmas trip that was all about the Dining, But aren't they all!Updated 1/8

[DVC_Kds]

Christmas dinner - a TOTAL waste of money and time at the Garden Grove at the Swan - buffet was horrible and so expensive for what we didn't get.

Always love ESPN at the Boardwalk - never disappoints for a quick bite while watching the game.

Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney - good food, fair prices but so, so, so crowded.

Tusker House - good food but so many people so hard to keep the food warm - love the mickey waffles.

If you're eating off grounds you've got to try the Ale House out on Rt. 192 near the Orange Lake Resort - good food and cheap. The parking lot was always full so you know it's a good deal.

 

[jrsmom]

Well I've always wanted to do a dining report and I actually started one, one year, but never got to finish plus it was boring I had no pics. Well this year much to my husband and childrens dismay MOM TOOK PICS!! Yeah I forgot some and yeah some of them are not the best but you know what I tried darn it! LOL.

There is something you should know about this trip. We decided that we were NOT going to go anywhere that we had been before. The only exception is if we never had that meal there. So since we had been to CM for breakfast we could only try dinner. Although I cheated and added CP because well Pooh is my fav and I am the boss LOL. We want to try every restaurant for every meal and we are compiling a list of ones we will return to and ones that are once and done!

So the cast of characters are as follows

Me a SAHM mom who is Disney obsessed. I eat, sleep , breath our trips. I am up for everything except fish and anything wiht brocoli or peas in it. YUCH!!

DH is a hard working man who will literally eat anything.

DD 10 is super excited because this year she gets to eat as an adult. She is just like her daddy.

DS 9 is my bird. He loves veggies, salads and pasta. He would love to eat off the adult menu but would never even finish 1/4 of the plate.

DD 8 well she is my picky one. She is very happy with nuggets and fries but she shocked me a few times this trip!!
This is US!~

Where we ate.
Sunshine Seasons
Le Celier
Tusker House
Kona
Wolfgang Puck Express
Mama Melrose
CRT
Crystal Palace
WPE again
Olivia's
Chef Mickeys
Olivia's
Earl of Sandwhich
Cosmic Cays
WPE again
Mexico counter service
Sunshine seasons breakfast
Sci Fi
Liberty Tree Tavern
Wcc breakfast

I think thats all of them LOL. There was more but we ended up canceling a few of them. We used a combo of TIW and the DDP. Well let the fun begin!

I love your shirts! Would you mind sending me a pm with the infor fo them??? Thanks a million!!!

Vickey

 

[KarBear]

Great reviews! Can't wait for more!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Joining in...

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

LOVE the cake for breakfast!! Yay vacation foods!

 

[tluvstink]

I am loving your reviews! Thanks for taking the time to post them

Terri

 

[fallen_angel727]

joining in!! would love to hear about Olivia's and Chef Mickey. We're doing Olivia's in July and I'm debating between Captain's Grille and Chef Mickey and I would love to hear about CM

 

[Vickis3js]

Well this is the day I cheated. We did Crystal Palace even though we had eaten there before. But you know what I planned the trip and did all the work for it and well darn it I am the boss and I make the rules I don't have to live by them. LOL So off to eat with my fav Winnie the Pooh. We had 9:30am ADR but arrived around 9am and we were seated within 5 minutes. Shortly after we were seated Piglet came over to say hello. So after he left we went to get the food!!! Now I only have one pic here because well its typical breakfast buffet food. They do have the chocolate waffles which I had to get a pic of. Ohhh you are in luck I have 2 pics!!

That is DH's plate with the chocolate Mickey waffles. I think they are drier then the regular ones and they are not my fav at all. The eggs were yummy. I LOVE their potatoe casserole but this day it was a tad undercooked. Not horrible just not as good as I remember the other 2 times. Bacon was Disney boring and limp. Now I must tell you that I am still so very sad to see the breakfast lasagna go. I hate warm peaches and the peach thing is just gross. Their puffed french toast is still there and yummy.

My plate. They have the freshest sweetest strawberries. I said to DH twice where the heck are they getting them this time of year to taste so darn good. I swear I think thats all I ate other then the Mickey Waffles.

Characters all came around in a timely manner. We got a few pics with Pooh. Tigger was not as playful as he had been before. They signed the kids books and all took pictures and thats about it.

All in all we will DEFINATLY be returning. Probably on our next trip in Dec.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

thanks for the update on CP, we were suppose to try it 3 weeks ago but I got so sick that we cancelled...I still have to try CP breakfast. We have gone only for lunch b/c Pooh and Piglet is one of my son favorite character (actually this is one of his favorite character meals)

 

[Vickis3js]

Alright this is the most disappointing meal of the trip. One of the very few restaurants we have tried that gets a big fat WILL NEVER RETURN TO!!! CRT. I was a little disappointed with the menu change before we left. But I let all the kids pic one restaurant and this was DD #2s. Since we had never been and 2 of the 3 kids were still kids in Disney's eyes I said we better do it now before the price goes WAY up.

First off our ADR was for 5:50 we tried checking in at 5:30. I was told NOPE you have to wait 10 minutes and then come check in again we are not taking anyone more then 10 minutes before their ADR. Whatever no big deal UNTIL someone comes and asks about a walk up ressie and they are told yeah sure we can see about that just hang on a minute. HELLO! I can't check in 20 minutes early but you are going to do a walk up. So when my 10 min is up I go over and check in and she hesitates until she checked her watch again. So we go in for our pics and as we are waitng to be called they come in and ask about 2 walk ups and 2 families who want to check in an hour early and the girl said OK.

So we finally get called up 20 min after our ADR time. We wait about 10 min before anyone even comes over and gets our drink orders. Everyone was running around like crazy too. For drinks the kids got Sprite and DH and I the lemonade.

So on to apps. DH, DD and I all got salads. The soup was beef barley, the shrimo thing looked gross and no one felt like a cheese plate.

It was a salad nothing fancy thats for sure.

For dinner DH and I got the tenderloin.

Ok the best part of the meal was the asparagus. There was 3 very thin slices of flavorless meat. The potatoes I have no clue what they were supposed to be. If they were mashed then they way undercooked the potatoes and they had hard lumps. If it was a casserole well then it was tasteless and undercooked. I enjoyed the sauce on the meat my DH said he thought it was gross and tasted like mayo.

DD got the fried chicken which she never got a pic of because the princesses were coming around. She said it was good. Definatly not worth the price I paid for it.

DS and DD #2 I didn't get pics of either. DD #2 got the fruit and cheese plate for her appie and DS got a salad. There was a few grapes and some cheddar cheese cubes for DD and DS's salad he said was likes shreds. For dinner DS got chicken nuggets and DD #2 got the tenderloin. DS said the chicken nuggets were just chicken nuggets and DD will eat anything that looks and tastes like steak so she was very happy LOL.

For dessert DD #1 got the Flan why I have no clue. She said it was gross but I didn't think she would eat it anyway LOL

I tried the trio

OMG they are so cute!! They are tiny. Nothing was that memorable though. I did give DD#1 my fruit since I am not a fan of blueberries and thats all there was in the cup.

DH got the no sugar added dessert and he enjoyed his sorbet.

DS got the sundae which no longer has the chocolate crown and DD got the cupcake which she barely ate

All in all the food is so not worth the price. The only thing that was cool was the princesses really did try and talk to you and interact. OUr server was ok but he seemed like all he did was run around us the entire time. We did CRT once and now we can mark it off our list and move on!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

thanks for the update on CRT, we had an ADR for CRT but I read the kids menu to our son and he said there wasn't anything he would eat. So I explained to him its his decision if he wants to eat in the castle those are the choices...so he said we can skip it this trip (thank goodness). We went for breakfast a few years ago but the experience in eating in the castle is worth it but when the food is not good its not worth it anymore.

 

[Vickis3js]

thanks for the update on CRT, we had an ADR for CRT but I read the kids menu to our son and he said there wasn't anything he would eat. So I explained to him its his decision if he wants to eat in the castle those are the choices...so he said we can skip it this trip (thank goodness). We went for breakfast a few years ago but the experience in eating in the castle is worth it but when the food is not good its not worth it anymore.

No I don't think it is worth it anymore. Normally DH will grin and bear it for the kids and not even comment but he did for this meal and one other one. We originally talked about eating breakfast at the castle but when I looked at the menus when we first booked it seemed like a better deal to eat dinner since there was more choices. Then they changed the menu and well it was too late to change our minds. Now we can say we did it and we crossed it off our list and we move on.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

No I don't think it is worth it anymore. Normally DH will grin and bear it for the kids and not even comment but he did for this meal and one other one. We originally talked about eating breakfast at the castle but when I looked at the menus when we first booked it seemed like a better deal to eat dinner since there was more choices. Then they changed the menu and well it was too late to change our minds. Now we can say we did it and we crossed it off our list and we move on.

thanks, that's how my husband feels about character dinning we are doing it for our son. But this time its not just the money with CRT...we loved eating in the castle but the food is not good and not much choice. You are right at least we ate there and can say we been there. I don't think we are going there anytime soon unless they changed the menu again. If they have a good dinner I don't mind paying for high price.

 

[sandym718]

First off our ADR was for 5:50 we tried checking in at 5:30. I was told NOPE you have to wait 10 minutes and then come check in again we are not taking anyone more then 10 minutes before their ADR. Whatever no big deal UNTIL someone comes and asks about a walk up ressie and they are told yeah sure we can see about that just hang on a minute. HELLO! I can't check in 20 minutes early but you are going to do a walk up. So when my 10 min is up I go over and check in and she hesitates until she checked her watch again. So we go in for our pics and as we are waitng to be called they come in and ask about 2 walk ups and 2 families who want to check in an hour early and the girl said OK.

This would make me so mad!! I can see how at different times/days restaurants may or may not be able to take early check-ins (and/or walk-ups). Busy dinner or lunch rushes for example. But within a matter of MINUTES to allow walk-ins and then VERY early check-ins, after not allowing you to just 20 mins early (which a lot of DIS folks will say is actually the time you are SUPPOSED to arrive for ADR's)....that's just wrong!!

 

[Vickis3js]

Well today was our Fantasmic Package day. Before we hit Mama Melrose at 3:45 we hit Starring Rolls cafe for snacks for an early snack/lunch. I got some banana dessert that was tasty. DD #1 got the butterfinger cupcake and that thing is HUGE. She could only eat about half. It was yummy though. DS got a brownie that was oh so yummy!! It was rich and oh so good. DD #2 got some strawberry thing. She loved it.

Definatly recommend that place for snacks.

So for dinner we had made ADRS with the F! package at Mama Melrose. With the dining plan you are able to get appie, meal, and dessert. DH and DD #1 got the calamari.

It was 2 huge protions instead of the one we expected to come since they both ordered the calamari for 2. Everyone shared it and there was still a lot left over. It was very tasty. I got the tomato and mozzerella. It did nothing for me. I never took a pic of it. There was not a lot of balsalmic drizzle and way too much salt on the cheese. DD #2 and DS got the minestrone soup. DD did not like it DS did but I expected that.

For dinner DD #1 and DH got the chicken parm.

DH said he was hoping for a little more sauce and a little more pasta. He licked his plate clean. DD liked hers as well.

I got the chicken Pipette with no artichokes and no peas.

It was really tasty. Very garlicky but thats what I loved about it. The sauce could have been a little thicker but it didn't ruin the dish. I could only eat about half of it. Its a heavy dish.

DS got the kids pasta with alfredo and DD #2 got the kids pizza. I don't think either of them left even a crumb.

On to dessert. I got the chocolate amerettini cheesecake.

So not what I expected it was supposed to be a cookie crust with chocolate cheesecake. Instead it was chocolate cake with a tiny smear of cheesecake. The cake was dry and well it was not worth eating.

DD #1 got the Tiramisu and well I snuck more then one bite LOL

It changed from the original description but I think for the better!

DH got the the Crema Limone

He enjoyed it.

I think the other 2 had the typical ice cream sundae I don't have pics of it though.

Oh I did get a raspberry bellini and it was yummy

Now we used the DDP here but if you are paying OOP and you are doing the F! package it is a per person price. The kids were 11.99 or 12.99 per kid when the kids meals are only $8.49 here. Then we tried using the TIW card for our alcohol and we were told no because we had a F! package. Not a big deal. Also our server was definatly not the best one of the trip. She was very huffy with us and kinda dropped things and ran. We also asked for a few things and 5 min later she would come back and say oh yeah I forgot to get something for you now what was it again.

All in all it was a good meal. DH said he liked Tony's better, he and I had dined there in Dec. when we went. I think its all about the same. We will be adding this one to our return to list.

 

[gardengirl628]

Loving your reviews so far. Thanks for sharing!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Is the Mama Melrose Fantasmic package any 3 courses from the main menu or a set meal? Looks great for 1ts

 

[Vickis3js]

Is the Mama Melrose Fantasmic package any 3 courses from the main menu or a set meal? Looks great for 1ts

It is any 3 courses. Definatly a good value on the DDP. If not on the DDP it looked like it was a set price no matter what you ordered. I know the kids was either 11.99 or 12.99 a piece but I am not sure what the adult charge was. I know it was over $30pp since we had 3 adults and it was over $100 for the 3 of us.

 

[lilandvisma]

Loving your reviews! Quick question, is the chicken breast at Kona boneless? Thanks

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Oh how frustrating and disappointing your CRT meal sounded! I would have been annoyed about the check-in "rules" too. That's too bad the food was so lackluster.