A honeymoon, a 3rd wheel & 3 very full tummies: We get how much food?!?!? 19 Nights DxDP!!!!

[robinsa88]

September 21st – Day 6 – Crystal Palace Dinner

After a long day at Magic Kingdom, we were very hot and bothered by the time dinner rolled around. Neither Peta and I were particularly enthused by tonight’s choice but we had agreed to go on Clint and Steph’s suggestion and I was at least excited to get pictures with our friends from the Hundred Acre Woods!

I do love the grandiose nature of the Crystal Palace, it does feel like a world apart, and is, in general well themed.

We were seated straight away almost, and our server here was disappointingly slack. She brought me the wrong drink then neglected to correct it, and never gave us any refills despite Clint and Steph asking at least once each.

We headed over to the buffet straight away upon the servers advice as the characters were on the other side.

Most the food that we had was just OK, not a lot of flavour and it was definitely lacking in exciting choices. The usual options of meat, veg and salad were there but they felt much more mass produced that the other buffets we had been to (and would go to). Several things I picked up were cold and I don’t even recall going back for seconds. Even Trent didn’t eat much.

Peta’s choices here seemed limited to plain veggies and a few salad options and she was definitely disappointed as well.

Unfortunately, the server was wrong, and the characters had re-emerged very quickly towards our table – and seemed to swamp us all at a time.

Tigger especially seemed irritated at having to wait for Trent and I to come back over, although I didn’t see the reason for this as Clint and Steph were only just finishing photos with him and Reuben. At least being a non-face character, you can’t tell

Ellie was having, erm, some digestive upset which unfortunately left her soiled. Subsequently the meal was somewhat cut short but not before we snagged some nice snaps at least.

I couldn’t help but feel that all the characters here were rushed, and Piglet also seemed somewhat put off by the fact that we wanted photos separate from Clint and Steph. This is unfortunately what we have experienced here in the past. It is, and remains based on this visit, our least favourite character meal.

And so, the score card:

Food: 1/5 – Cold and Bland

Service: 1/5 – Gave wrong advice, didn’t refill and brought me the wrong drink

Experience: 1/5 – Even the characters and nice décor could not save this L

 

[robinsa88]

Joining in! Loving your reviews!!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in! Plenty more to come

 

[Sailormoon2]

Sorry your experience at CP was so horrible. Have you been for breakfast? If, so was it just as rushed and the food poor?

 

[toomuchtv]

I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience at CP. We have mostly been for breakfast, which I really enjoy, but I did like the one time we went for lunch as well. It's not the most exciting buffet, but the puffed french toast especially at breakfast is yummy!

 

[robinsa88]

Sorry your experience at CP was so horrible. Have you been for breakfast? If, so was it just as rushed and the food poor?

I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience at CP. We have mostly been for breakfast, which I really enjoy, but I did like the one time we went for lunch as well. It's not the most exciting buffet, but the puffed french toast especially at breakfast is yummy!

Yes, we have been to CP for breakfast - did find it just as rushed, but the food was better and warmer!

 

[robinsa88]

Day 6 - Dining Plan Tally

 

[pepperandchips]

Why am i so woefully late on this food party?! Not caught up but I will catch up soon

My quotes are not playing nicely with my phone and the dis but when you made the plea for no one to stop reading just because you didn't like the bread pudding it made me laugh out loud.

French Toast - brioche French toast with Madagascar vanilla bean-butter, and bacon or sausage $14

I dream and fantasize about this stuff all the time. I have got to get back to breakfast at the GFC.

Donald's so rude startling an infant like that! Poor baby girl.

 

[robinsa88]

September 22nd – Day 7 – Rainforest Café Breakfast

Due to the experience running late to MK, we made a last-minute change to our plans to save time. We originally booked Boma but I had no desire to drive to AKL then to the park so I changed it last minute to Rainforest Café so we could just catch the bus straight to the park. From a timing perspective, I was super happy with this decision as there was an accident involving a bus and a car that meant we sat in traffic to AK and ended up 15 minutes late to our breakfast anyway!

From a food perspective, I wasn’t too fussed about breakfast at Boma as I think we will prefer it at dinner. We also don’t have Rainforest Café back home so I was at least excited to show Trent what it was like. He really liked the theming!

When we sat down it was fairly quiet and we had an attentive server, which was great. Trent and I both got a specialty coffee to start:

It was just OK but we both felt the need for some caffeine as back to back park days were starting to take their toll.

Trent and I both chose the same meal this morning:



Cranberry Waffle - Baked with cranberries and topped with raspberry sauce. Served with whipped cream, maple syrup and your choice of bacon or sausage. $10.99

We were both happy with the choice! The waffle was fresh and went down a treat! Trent would have usually not chosen cranberry but the other option had banana, so obviously that was not going to work!

Trent was going to order the breakfast pizza out of curiosity, but changed his mind last minute as he saw one on the table next to us and it was HUGE!!!!

Peta was craving some fruit and cereal so went with:



Forest Combo - Oatmeal with brown sugar, seasonal fruit and toast. $8.99 (yep, that’s GF toast!)

This was basic oatmeal, but just what she felt like. The fruit was very fresh and she ended up eating most of it.

Peta also grabbed a smoothie, which sadly I forgot to photograph L

Food: 3/5 – Fresh and hit the spot

Service: 5/5 – Super speedy, and very attentive!

Experience: 4/5 – I have a soft spot for the atmosphere here, but it is loud and not for everyone!

 

[robinsa88]

Why am i so woefully late on this food party?! Not caught up but I will catch up soon

My quotes are not playing nicely with my phone and the dis but when you made the plea for no one to stop reading just because you didn't like the bread pudding it made me laugh out loud.

Better late than never Welcome!!!

I remember thinking at the time that I would be disowned by fellow dis'ers.....since realising that's not true, I thought it was too funny to leave out

 

[Sailormoon2]

I didn't even know that RFC did breakfast! Cool, will check out the menu now

 

[robinsa88]

September 22nd – Day 7 – Flame Tree BBQ Lunch

We decided early that we were hungry as it was very hot, and AK demands a lot of walking. I had plans to try an epic lunch, which sounded right up my alley: the Pulled Buffalo Chicken Waffle Sandwich at Trilobites. Sadly, after walking around and trying to figure out where it was, Trilobites was closed L

Thankfully, we were close to our chosen QS anyway:

I was still excited to give Flame Tree BBQ a go. Peta knew that her lunch choices here were VERY limited, so while the others went and grabbed a table for lunch, we set out around the park to two locations:

From Mr Kamal’s:

Falafel - with tzatziki $4.99

Then across to Terra Treats Food Allergy Kiosk:

Peta grabbed chocolate cupcakes ($5.99) to go with her falafels plus 2 bags of GF snacks ($5.99 each) as we knew we were going to Busch Gardens in a few days and Peta’s choices there would likely be limited.

Pixie dust alert! After picking out all the items we wanted, he advised that the register was broken and it was all free! (We would have used snack credits otherwise)

When we got back to Flametree BBQ everyone was still in a line for food – it was super busy and I was surprised given it was still early for lunch.

Looking at the size of the meals, Trent and I decided to share a meal and use a snack credit to get something else that had been on my snack wishlist:

French Fries with Pulled Pork and Cheese $6.49

This was so good! However when ordering, the CM couldn’t figure out how to put the QS and the snack credit through together. Instead he put the meal through and then it took him (no joke) a further 7 minutes to put through the snack as he just could not figure it out! I was standing in line SOOOOOO embarrassed yet again, and it wasn’t even the allergy thing this time!

Between us, we got the:

Ribs, Chicken and Pulled Pork Combo - Smoked ribs, chicken and pulled pork served with baked beans, coleslaw and Jalapeno cornbread $19.99

So here, we used one less credit than we had originally planned. I couldn’t imagine us being able to eat a QS meal each and the fries. For some reason the CM said that, being deluxe, we could add another side to the meal for no cost (which I had not encountered anywhere else?) but as I mentioned we were sharing, he suggested adding a drink. Therefore, on the one credit I got the meal, dessert (Lime Mousse - $4.59) and 2 drinks:

Oh my gosh does this represent GREAT value as a QS on the dining plan (obviously not for us on the deluxe plan, but on the regular plan). Even without the fries, this would have fed us both. That said, I was not a huge fan of the pulled meat. It was the sides that were really the highlight I think. Trent ate most the meat as I wasn’t feeling too hungry for such heavy food in the heat.

Sorry for the lack of a photo of dessert – the lime mousse was just OK and it didn’t keep in the humidity, we ate a few bites each. It seemed a weird option given the outside, very hot eating area but the other choice was chocolate mousse and it seems that would be just as problematic.

Food: 3/5 – Tasty, but not as good as I had imagined. It is still probably the most solid QS choice in AK, especially to maximise QS value or if you want to share.

Service: 1/5 – Soooooooo slow that yet again, Clint and Steph had ordered and eaten by the time I got our food to the table!

Experience: 2/5 – The way it is set up trapped the heat and humidity and it was so loud. The tables are also very close and I felt like we were on top of other people.

 

[toomuchtv]

Cranberry Waffle - Baked with cranberries and topped with raspberry sauce. Served with whipped cream, maple syrup and your choice of bacon or sausage. $10.99

That looks DELICIOUS! I never think of doing Rainforest for breakfast, but we might have to sometime!

 

[robinsa88]

That looks DELICIOUS! I never think of doing Rainforest for breakfast, but we might have to sometime!

Yes, this was a definite surprise for us and so convenient to eat breakfast in the park without having to walk through to Tusker House (or pay the price, althought on the DP that doesn't matter).

 

[mom2my3kids]

That looks DELICIOUS! I never think of doing Rainforest for breakfast, but we might have to sometime!

We love Rainforest for breakfast and I love that waffle..

 

[robinsa88]

Hey everyone, so sorry that I have dropped off for a few days - I expect to smash out some more reviews over the weekend but it's been a very stressful, upsetting week here and I haven't been in the right frame of mind for the dining report. Please hang tight! I promise more is coming

 

[pepperandchips]

Hope you are okay we'll be patient!

 

[KimBean]

Hey everyone, so sorry that I have dropped off for a few days - I expect to smash out some more reviews over the weekend but it's been a very stressful, upsetting week here and I haven't been in the right frame of mind for the dining report. Please hang tight! I promise more is coming

So sorry. Great report.

 

[robinsa88]

September 22nd – Day 7 – Tusker House Dinner

After a full day at AK, we were super excited for an early dinner! We have only done Tusker House for breakfast before, and given we are adventurous eaters I was excited for this one. Trent wasn’t too thrilled with having another buffet, but as our last meal with Clint and Steph he could see all the signature dining on the horizon!

We were seated quickly and it was loud and packed! We had a great server who was very attentive and guided us well on when to head to the buffet / when to stay at the table.

We thought the options here were great and there was something for everyone!

We enjoyed the adventurous choices but the kids and Clint and Steph were also well catered for! And Peta had lots of options, plus the chef offered her items of the buffet in case she did not have enough.

Everything was hot, and full of flavour!

Dessert wasn’t really great for us, but we sampled a few items and were quite full anyway:

The characters here were also great and definitely took their time.

However, this did mean that the meal drew out longer than the kids could really tolerate. We were very happy to head off anyway, but it had not escaped Reuben’s notice that we had missed a character and he got suddenly very upset!

I explained to the server, who took care of it at once, having us stand up and gather after we had paid so that we could see………

Reuben was thrilled and I very much thanked them for being so accommodating! Meltdown averted! Clint and Steph left us there to head back to their hotel and we hung around for an eagerly awaited DVC event (see next post).

Side note regarding split stays: We learned something here about our dining plans! Clint and Steph were originally coming for 4 days and decided to add a 5th – no worries, I added them an extra night but could only get AKL so they had to change resorts and change dining plans. They were told they could use the new plan straight away but it didn’t work at this dinner and they had to pay OOP then sort it out later at the hotel. Turns out to roll over to the next plan you must use EVERY meal and snack credit on the first plan to activate the second. This makes sense logically, but we hadn’t considered it. It was excellent learning for us as we were due to change resorts the next day!!!

And so, the score card:

Food: 4/5 – Such great variety for a buffet

Service: 5/5 – Went above and beyond to help us out!

Experience: 4/5 – The vibe here is super fun and who doesn’t love the characters in safari gear?

 

[robinsa88]

BONUS: September 22nd – Day 7 – DVC Safari Spectacular Snacks

We were very excited about heading to the DVC special event at AK in the evening, and picked our wrist bands up (luckily right outside Tusker House) when we had dinner. I was sad we couldn’t get Clint and Steph in and actually a little annoyed by the rules. Since I had a reservation I could only get tickets for the people on our reservation (even though we had also booked Clint and Steph’s) however, those that had no reservation could book up to 5 tickets per member, which would have allowed us to get Clint and Steph in, oh well! The kids were tired and it was probably for the best.

While we waited for the festivities to begin, we took a number of snaps:

We had an early evening Safari time, and I was thankful as the dusk allowed us to see the animals and any darker and it would have been hard. The animals were SO active at this time! The lions were up and around and making so much noise!

By the end of the safari it was getting dark and the party was in full swing!

Straight after, we went and grabbed complimentary snacks and there was HEAPS of choice! Drinks, chips, cookies, and every kind of ice cream / icy pole imaginable!

We just grabbed some icy poles, and put some doritos in our bag for later:

Peta and I went for Strawberry Fruit Bars

Trent tried an Orange Creamsicle

We had SOOOOOOO much fun at this event! Riding Everest over and over, going on the river rapids in pitch black! Seriously – if they are going to extend AK hours they really need to add more lighting to the paths they were a bit of a hazard. But the rapids were super awesome at night – we rode 3 times in a row when we decided that being soaked wasn’t our best decision after all with the sun down!

Thankfully it was super hot for September and we did still need more icy poles to cool down!

Orange is mine, naturally Peta grabbed a Mickey bar

Trent also had his first Mickey Bar!!!

 

[Cimicats]

Joining in late but really enjoying your reviews!