Alaskans at Disney! 7 Days of Dining Reviews with Pics! (update #14, 7-9-08)

[Splat25]

Alaskan’s at Disney! 7 Days of Dining Reviews with Pics! (Apr 15-21 2008)

I decided it was time for the wife and kids to see Disneyworld and the area I grew up. I was born and raised in the Orlando area and left for Alaska with my dad when I was 15. One of the things we love to do is plan way ahead for our trips and of course eat well. We went with the Deluxe Disney dining plan and setup an aggressive table service schedule that really worked out well for our family with small kids. My DD is 5yrs and my DS is 21mo, so having regular set times were really important. We often found that right after lunch we would go back to the resort for naptime (for all of us!) and then head back to the park for dinner. This way we were able to beat the heaviest crowds and the hotter days – yes, we are from Alaska after all, so mid-upper 80’s feels pretty hot in April to us when there is snow back home!

Here is our agenda in visit order:

Garden Grill (Chip and Dale's Harvest Feast) – Lunch - Epcot Character Dining [pg1, post #2]
Whispering Canyon Café – Dinner - Wilderness Lodge [pg3, post #32]
Tusker House - Breakfast – Animal Kingdom Character Dining (Donald’s Safari) [pg3, post #34]
Yak & Yeti – Lunch – Animal Kingdom [pg 5, post#61]
Boma – Dinner – Animal Kingdom Lodge [pg 5, post #69]
Chef Mickey’s – Breakfast – Contemporary Resort Character Dining [pg 6, post #76]
The Plaza – Lunch – Magic Kingdom [pg 6, post #83]
Cinderella’s Royal Table – Dinner – Magic Kingdom [pg 7, post #93]
O’hana’s – Breakfast – Polynesian Resort Character Dining [pg 7, post #101]
Crystal Palace – Lunch – Magic Kingdom Character Dining [pg 8, post #106]
Biergarten – Dinner – Epcot [pg 8, post #107]
Hollywood & Vine (Play N Dine) – Breakfast – Hollywood Studios (Character Dining) [pg 8, post #116]
50’s Prime Time Café – Lunch - Hollywood Studios [pg 9, post #122]
Mama Melrosa – Dinner - Hollywood Studios (w/Fantasmic seats) [pg 9, post #128]
Narcoossee’s – Dinner – Grand Floridian Resort
Whispering Canyon Café – Breakfast - Wilderness Lodge
Casey’s Corner – Lunch – Magic Kingdom

We tried very hard to take pictures of everything we could and look forward to your comments and questions.

 

[Splat25]

Garden Grill (Chip and Dale's Harvest Feast) – Lunch - Epcot Character Dining
Characters: Mickey, Pluto, Chip 'n' Dale

Family Style Platter (Adults) featured:
Buttermilk biscuits and Yeast rolls with Honey-Orange Blossom Butter
Flank Steak with Mushroom Cabernet au Jus
Rotisserie chicken
Fried Catfish
Home-style Potato Casserole
Green Beans
Very Berry Puff Pastry

Family Style Platter (Kids) featured:
Chicken Nuggets
Macaroni and Cheese
Potatoes or French Fries
Fresh Vegetables
Make your own cupcake dessert

Food Review:
The meal is serves family style where platters with several different types of items are brought out to the table and everyone serves themselves from that. That worked well for our family. The Flank steak was tender and had a good flavor to it, but the catfish was really quite good. We had taken the land boat tour prior to our reservation and were able to see where they raised the farmed catfish they use here. The green beans were cooked well and had a satisfying light crunch. The rotisserie chicken was good, but not really outstanding. The Potato casserole was delicious and had a nice creamy/cheesy taste to it – we asked for more catfish and potatoes.

The kid’s food platter was also pretty decent. I have to cut up our son’s food (only 21mo old) and was able to take small samples as well during our trip. The chicken nuggets were tender and had a good taste to them. The Mac & Cheese was good and I had a helping myself.

My son was full and not interested in dessert much, but my 5yr old daughter loved the make your own cupcake for kids. She probably spends 15 minutes just decorating it and we had to prompt her several times to just eat it! The adult dessert was very good as well from what I remember.

Atmosphere:
The restaurant is like a large doughnut and rotates very slowly overlooking the land pavilion’s tour boat ride. You get to see lush jungles with waterfalls, desert areas, and a country farmhouse. It is neat to see that Disney’s attention to detail is superb as even the rooms in the farmhouse were decorated and such. We were seated in a semi-circular booth and were very comfortable during our visit. The characters were really fun at this restaurant. It was fun to see that several of them (chip & Dale, and Pluto) were a bit mischievous and kept seeking up on the wife and surprising her much to my 5yr old’s delight. They joked around with our kids and signed autographs. A very fun charter visit for our first one.

Notes:
I had read a review before we left that recommended asking for an outside seat. and I did that at the podium. It was well worth asking for it as the scenery was great and felt very private since we really couldn’t see the other guests.

Pics:
We had just literally flown for 12-14 hours, used the Disney magic express to pseudo-check in at the hotel and then bolted to Epcot for our reservation. So I have to apologize for not really remembering to snap all these pics before the platters were “disturbed”…lol.

 

[MadiMouse]

Great start! I am all set for food porn!

 

[Krissalee]

Amazing start - looking forward to reading more!

 

[DisneyDancin7]

jumping on board! great review so far!

 

[undertheseas]

Great start!

 

[danielle.st]

Awesome!
I'm really looking forward to this one as we are doing the deluxe plan and eating 3 meals most days as well!

 

[KatMark]

Great start. Anxiously awaiting more reviews as we are trying some places for the first time this year that you went to.

 

[Alice28]

I'm in! Great so far!

 

[sandybobandy]

Just marking my spot!

 

[Maggi May]

Great start and looking forward to reading more.

Love the picture of your family in front of the castle -- looks like you had a wonderful time!

 

[TigerKat]

Great start, great pics, I'm in!!!!!!!

 

[phabric]

Great review. I will be looking for more reviews.

 

[Booknut]

Brilliant start, looking forward to more!!

 

[Wendy5055]

What a wonderful review!!! We are going in Aug/Sept and chose many of the same places a you so I am really looking forward to more!!!

 

[mindyd]

Great Review looking forward to more

 

[LastLookAtTheCastle]

Can't wait for more! You hit about half of the places we're planning on in January... on the Deluxe as well!

 

[MA pigletfan]

Great start...you are very thorough! .i am looking forward to more

 

[John's Mom]

I'm in!

 

[toocherie]

Great report!