Day 7
Friday was our last park day.

We made it our DHS day, as we knew we didnt need more than a half-day there. After a really rough morning everything we wanted to do was down (TSM, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast wasnt scheduled until later, etc), we went over to the Indiana Jones show. This was a low-crowd-forecasted day in February (and felt that way)
but because of all the other flukes that day in the park, 10 minutes before the show started it was open but standing-room only! Urgh! Not happening with two little ones. So by that point we just decided we were hungry enough for lunch, and we REALLY wanted a fresh start. We headed to our favorite DHS counter-service restaurant
Toy Story Pizza Planet
First of all, my reasoning for this being our favorite place at DHS has a little history. On our first trip to WDW together, DH and I ate there because we were able to get a pretty cheap meal and we enjoyed the pizza plus we like the Toy Story theming. So on every subsequent trip, weve gone back the pizza is still good, and since any other fast-service place weve tried at DHS hasnt been great to us, we continue to go back. Our girls like it there, too, so its just kind of a tradition. The negative there is the seating theres usually plenty up at the top, but getting up there on the steps can be a challenge, and the elevator is kind of out of the way. Oh well.
We went up and ordered our pizzas (DH and I both got the pepperoni pizza combo with a soda and a Mickey rice crispy treat)
weirdly, DH specified large for his drink and I had forgotten, but I noticed the cashier change her button on the register so I made sure my drink was a large, too
it had been originally entered as medium. Not a huge deal, but since either size is fine with the dining plan, Id rather get a bigger diet coke and keep it in our stroller if I dont finish it all then. So I guess its just a point to note I hadnt specified before, and had always received large drinks at restaurants that had them, but I guess DHs way of just ordering a large drink is smarter. After we ordered, it took AWHILE for our food to be made I still dont know what was taking them so long, but it was pretty ridiculous. I finally just headed upstairs with our girls and we waited for DH.
The pizza was still yummy hot, good chewy crust, just tasty I mean its not the best pizza Ive ever had, but it also doesnt taste like a frozen pizza or anything similar. Especially on a hot day at Disney, we enjoy it! The big bummer this time was the salad woah have they made those smaller!! Now theyre Caesar salads instead of a garden salad like they used to have, and the container makes the salad inside MUCH smaller. Big disappointment! It was still an okay salad, but I like my lettuce (and other veggies) and we were not impressed with the salads.
Our girls split a kids cheese pizza meal with, what do you guess? Applesauce and grapes of course!

We had a second applesauce with us so they didnt have to share that. They had apple juice with it, and although I dont have a picture, they thought it was a great meal and helped finish some of my pizza, too.
We shared the Mickey rice crispy treats afterward theyre okay, but they taste more like the packaged Rice Crispy Treats in the blue wrappers, not like fresh homemade treats. I mean, dont get me wrong, Im okay with eating them, but they always make me want to make fresh rice crispy treats at home. YUM-O. But their shape makes them taste better anyway.
Overall, our rating of Pizza Planet would probably be 8/10
it gets a good rating still for the pizza and atmosphere, but lowered due to the smaller salads.
After our lunch, the rest of our time at DHS was better, but it still made us question if well go back there the next time were in WDW. We still havent settled that decision.

We left in time to head back to our room to change and then head over to the Contemporary for dinner at
Chef Mickeys
We hadnt been there before, so we were excited to try it out. Ive seen it get a lot of various reviews some love it, some hate it. We got there before the restaurant was opened (our ADR was for 5:10, and the restaurant opened for dinner at 5). First, we were sent to the photo area to take our picture with the Mickey statue. Since DD2 was still napping in DHs arms, they said we could come back later for it I double checked that the photo wasnt included with our meal and since its not, we conveniently never went back for that photo op.

Its not hard for us to say no to buying a ridiculously-overpriced photo package, but it just didnt seem worth the hassle to go back. Anyway, so we waited with others as the staff prepared everything and then did a little mini-ceremony for opening the restaurant. Tables started getting quickly called, and soon we were, too.
We were seated by a sweet older gentleman, Mr. Al, and then our server came to explain how things work. We had also noted this meal as a Birthday meal (since a previous trip it had been noted more than once and only celebrated once, I figured if I put the note on more than one, then there was at good chance of our girls birthdays being celebrated
lesson learned, we now know better who does something fun and know that we dont need to note it on everything). It turns out that at Chef Mickeys, the birthday cupcake comes out in the BEGINNING of the meal, and they bring extra candles and a pack of matches, too. Then youre suppose to light the candle as each character comes by for a photo op. In reality, it was kind of silly, especially with two little girls who just wanted to eat the cupcake.

But they actually did REALLY well and ate their other food first (until the last of the characters came by and they asked if they could eat them). But still, unless one of our girls REALLY wanted to do it again, I dont think Id note a birthday celebration on a Chef Mickeys reservation again.
Donald came by first, and since it had been a few days since a face-masked character meal, we discussed the idea of characters beforehand with our girls. DD1 decided that she wanted to be braver and she would sit in her seat and smile at me with a character behind her. I reminded her that she didnt HAVE to do that, but I also didnt want her to regret not having photos for her book, so I said wed take it a character at a time and she could let me know. So for Donald, she did just that smiled at me (and the photo clearly shows her concern peaking out!), and she was so proud of herself. DD2 still had no interest.

Mickey came by and the same thing occurred, as with Pluto later. When Goofy came by the smile was much more forced (hes a tall guy, which is funny to me because DH is tall, too, but he really intimidates my girls!). However, when Minnie came by, DD1 was up out of her seat sooooo quickly! She had hugged her (timidly) last year for the first time, and this year she was so happy to get to hug Minnie! Minnie actually came by two more times throughout our meal, and each time DD1 insisted she needed another photo.
Anyway, the buffet at CM is the same on both sides, so our server suggested we go to the left side this turned out to be a smart suggestion. Except that after Donald and Mickey came by, both of our girls wanted to go up to the food with me. And as Im sure happens with other parents, when youre walking with a child in each hand in a slightly busy area and they start heading in a different direction than youre intending but will still work for what you need, you just go with it. Or I did at least. So we went on the right side. Yep, it was slower. Oh well!

Both DDs chose fruit, cheese, and some croutons and shredded cheese. I think there were grapes and strawberries on their plates, but they were gone before I took the picture.
So then I got my starting plate salad and a bowl of clam chowder. I dont have clam chowder very often, but this was REALLY rich
I could only eat about 1/3 of it. It was tasty, though. The salad choices were slim no good fresh vegetables (other than the cucumbers & lettuce), and I added a potato salad, pasta salad, and some cold seafood thing (kind of like a gumbo?). The plate was okay, although the cucumbers had a strange bitter taste and nothing was awesome.
Apparently I have no pictures of DHs food. He probably got a salad and then other food.

He doesn't remember. I know that he went up to get other food for our girls, and brought back the plate below Mickey Mac & Cheese with broccoli and green beans. The mac & cheese was sooooo cute! Our girls didnt eat much of it, but I figured it was because they werent that hungry by then. So when I was done with my plate (which Ill write about in a second), I went up and got some mac & cheese, too
I just wanted some good comfort food.

Um, bad idea that stuff was adorable LOOKING, but oh man, it was awful!! NO flavor, not a good texture (and Im not super picky about mac & cheese, I like lots of types!), and it just was NOT good. I only ate one bite! So much for that. No wonder our girls didnt eat much.
When I went up for entrée food, I got the plate below salmon (see Im not kidding, I LOVE salmon!), a pasta dish, a turkey pot pie, and some broccoli. I was really looking forward to it! Then I took a bite of the salmon. Woah. It was BAD! It was super-super-super salty and just gross.

Ive never not liked salmon before and I dont know what they did wrong to it (maybe it was the sauce on top? No idea), but all I could eat was that one bite. If I had been at home, I probably would have spit it out
it was really THAT bad. The rest of the stuff wasnt as bad, but nothing was great, either
the pasta was just eh, the pot pie was bland and the broccoli was just broccoli but nothing special. I was pretty disappointed, although having known that there are some negative reviews of Chef Mickeys on here, I was less disappointed than I would have been if I was expecting excellence. Thats why I got the mac & cheese, and clearly that didnt help me, either.
So it was on to dessert.

Thankfully Chef Mickeys at least did that well. DH took the girls up to get their dessert and get this, DD1 fell down while they were walking by the dessert stand and according to DHs tale of the story, Minnie RUSHED over to her, helped her up, and gave her a kiss! DH says Minnie got to DD1 before even he could.

How sweet! It was quite the story when they came back to the table. Even DD2 (still fearful of Minnie) was talking about it. So then they got their desserts heres what I know happened. DD1 decided that she wanted ice cream with candy on top for her dessert, so she got hers. DD2 had decided that she wanted that, too, but then when she saw the candy on DD1s ice cream, she changed her mind and decided that she wanted JUST the candy. Thats my girl.

Their bowls are below
DH got a Mickey Mousse thing, a key lime tart, and a piece of bread pudding. They were all presented well, but honestly the Mickey Mousse looked way better than it tasted bland mousse on an Oreo cookie. But at least it was adorable. The rest of the desserts were good, too
I dont have a pic of it, but I got a Minnies Cheesecake that was tasty, and I loved DD2s idea so I got a few jelly beans and Reeses Pieces, too. At least our meal ended sweetly.
Overall, the character interaction at Chef Mickeys was great they all handled the shyness well and posed for some very cute photos. Obviously, Minnie even went above-and-beyond. So for that aspect, Id give a 10/10. But the food was severely lacking. I dont think Ive ever had that many negative feelings about food at a restaurant. Maybe we just had a really bad night? Either way, for food, Id give it a 4/10 (redeemed only by the fruit and desserts). So I guess overall Id give it a 6/10. Would I go back? Im not sure. Its an easy way to meet the Fab 5 and the theming of the restaurant is all really cute, and maybe the food would be better again. So Id probably give it another shot. Im just forgiving like that.
There's only one day left! I'll finish up soon with Day 8 - 1900 Park Fare Breakfast and Mara lunch.