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

I really love your reviews!!! I am really looking forward to our Yak N Yeti lunch in September now!!! Can't wait for more!!!
 
enjoying your reviews!

(the closeup of oatmeal with raisins - not so much!!! ;) )
 
The Plaza – Lunch – Magic Kingdom

The Plaza Restaurant is a very small Victorian styled restaurant that is located right around the end of Main Street as you go toward the castle. It was getting very hot when we arrived for our ADR and we were very much looking for a cool break and something to drink. We had to wait about 5-10 minutes before we were seated at a nice window seat. I think I counted about 20 tables all together in this restaurant.

Our menu:
Creamy Hand-Dipped Milkshakes – we had mint chocolate chip.
Cheese Steak Sandwich - shaved beef, grilled with onions, mushrooms, red peppers, and white American cheese served on a hoagie roll. Wife chose a garden side salad.
Grilled Reuben - thinly sliced corned beef on grilled marble rye with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing. I chose to have the tomato bisque soup.
Kids Grilled Cheese Sandwich – simple grilled cheese with grapes.
Mickeylodeon kids dessert – choice of ice cream, chocolate ears and a cone hat.

Food Review:
We started off with the usual round iced teas and chocolate milk. However, having been an avid DIS board reader, I knew I “needed” to have a milkshake since they were so good. With or weakness for mint chocolate chip shakes and the scorching hot day (for us), it seemed a perfect combination…..and it was. The shakes (we got 2) came out with the metal leftover cups and looked absolutely delicious with their lush whipped cream and bright red cherries. The shakes were every bit as good as they looked. We originally ordered them as extras, off the Disney dining plan, but by the end of the meal, we couldn’t even consider dessert, so we had the server use them as our desserts to save some money.

plaza--shake.jpg

Mint Shakes (YEA!) – Very much loved on this hot day!

Disney wife ordered the garden salad with ranch. It was very refreshing with crisp greens, a nice ripe grape tomato and good dressing.

plaza--salad.jpg

Garden Salad

I like to try different soups when out and found myself selecting the tomato bisque soup. When it came it was served in a fairly small cup, but the color and texture of it made me want to dive in right away. I can’t recall if I added the croutons or they came that way, but they were in there and had a good herb taste when munched. The soup itself had a thick consistency and the flavor had a very rich and creamy tomato taste. Everyone loved this soup. I had to fight off both the wife and kids to get even half of my soup!

plaza--soup.jpg

Tomato Bisque Soup – Very good.

Next came my Disney daughter’s grilled cheese meal. We ended up splitting her grilled cheese with my son and that worked out very well. It was lightly crisped on the sides and had decent cheese. They liked it and it was pretty much devoured. The grapes were a nice touch instead of French fries. They were nice and crisp grapes, sweet and tasty.

plaza--kids-meal.jpg

Kids Grilled Cheese meal

I ordered the Ruben sandwich. The lightly grilled marbled rye bread was really nice visually and tasted very good. Overall, I liked the sandwich and would order it again. The flavors of the corned beef, sauerkraut, and swiss with the dressing and a little extra ketchup as needed were rich and bold. The potato salad was very soft and had a vinegar like flavor that worked well with this sandwich paring.

plaza--patrick-meal.jpg

Ruben with potato salad

The Cheesesteak meat was tender and well seasoned. The bun was fresh and soft. The onions and peppers blended well with the seasonings on the meat. And the cheese was good and gooey. All in all a very tasty cheesesteak. The fries were pretty good too, hot and crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

plaza--wife-meal.jpg

Cheesesteak and fries

Desserts! We were really too full from the 2 milkshakes and like 6 iced teas we must have drunk to even consider dessert. We however realized that the kids would most likely mutiny if not paid a dessert tribute. We ordered the kids a Mickeylodeon sundae from the menu for them to share. This dessert has scoop of your choice of ice creams, chocolate ears and a cone hat. This was a big hit and the rainbow sherbert was super delicious.

plaza---icecream.jpg

Disney Daughter’s Mickeylodeon Sundae

Atmosphere:
The Plaza restaurant is a very small restaurant, possible seating maybe 20-25 tables at the most. It has old Victorian scrolling and décor to help accent it. The mirrors and lights are all quite elegant.

plaza--inside.jpg

Inside the Plaza Restaurant

It was very hot outside so we were more than relived to feel it was pleasantly air conditioned inside. The server was pretty standoffish here – sort of like she was having a bad day or something at first, though she did seem more friendly towards the end of our meal. The service time was very slow at first, but got more on track towards the end of the meal. I highly recommend an ADR if you even remotely want to eat here since I do not really think they have the capacity for many walk-ins. It is a very convenient place to eat in the magic kingdom and offers a relaxing way to take a break from the bustling park. From our window you could easily see the castle and people watch as you enjoy a meal.
 
I cannot wait to try the Plaza on our next trip! I can't believe we have never eaten there! That cheesesteak looks so good! :cool1:
 

That cheesesteak looks delicious and those milkshakes.........yummy :goodvibes
 
Loving your reviews...I'm still back and forth about upgrading to the dxddp for our November trip...your reviews are leaning me towards it again!
 
We really thought the deluxe plan was a great value for us. If you plan out all your meals and use mostly table service, then you'll save some serious $$ I think. We paid for one or two of our counter service meals at the hotel and at Casey's corner to allow us to go to Narcoossees and CRT. Well worth it and I definetly plan of using the plan again on our next trip. :thumbsup2
 
Oh, YUM!!! Those mint milkshakes look fabulous!!! :worship:

We really liked The Plaza when we went in 2006.

I'm hoping to make an ADR at Cinderella's Royal Table for our next trip in January, but if I can't get an ADR, I'm going to quite happily go to The Plaza instead! Yum!! ::yes::

Thanks again for another great report!
 
Great updates. That milkshake looks gorgeous and the mickeylodeon sundaes are just so cute.
 
Yak & Yeti – Lunch – Animal Kingdom

yak-view2.jpg

Inside restaurant shot – what is that kid doing over there to his head?

We were seated upstairs in the front corner with windows on two sides of our table. The temperature inside Yak & Yeti was a wonderful break from the sweltering heat outside. The setting has a nice mix of earthy colors with wood accents that was eclectic yet peaceful. Notice in the inside shot that no two ceiling light fixtures or fans were the same.

The service was about average and our dining experience took about one hour or so. We thought it was an excellent break after doing a morning safari run and getting some shopping and exploring in.


I think we had the exact same table when we were there on April 27th! :rotfl: Did you have any trouble with your bill? We had a heck of a time trying to calculate the gratuity since they wouldn't give us an itemized bill. I actually had to ask for a menu, wait 15 minutes to get the menu and then add up what we had spent myself! She wanted me to just tip based on $35 per person but there was no way with two adults and two preschoolers we had spent $140! I really liked my food, but the service left something to be desired.

Loving your reviews! We still had snow on the ground when we left on April 26th too here in Montreal. not alaska I know, but a local laughed at me when I asked her if it was always this hot in April! :goodvibes
 
I think we actually got a bill that showed the amounts at Yak (and each time we had table service if I recall correctly). We told the server we were using the deluxe dining plan .. but got the bill with totals anyway and then gave them our disney card. I remember being able to see amounts and calculating the tip easily we usually did 20%+. It really sounds like you may have just had a freaky server? :confused:
 
Cinderella’s Royal Table – Dinner – Magic Kingdom

This is truly a special experience. We had our daughter get the royal treatment package at the Bippity Boppity Boutique located across the hallway a few hours earlier, so getting to have dinner in the castle and have my daughter meet Cinderella was the icing on the cake! I’d heard that you wouldn’t get to have a character dining experience, but that is not necessarily accurate. You get a photo meet and greet with Cinderella downstairs, and then later there is a little show put on by the mice and the fairy godmother. While not technically character dining with autographs and such, it was still a fun time for the family.

CRT-Castle.jpg

Cinderella’s Castle

CRT-mozaic.jpg

Beautiful mosaic inside the castle main corridor


Our Menu:

BLT Salad - a mixture of frisee, iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, with applewood bacon, tomato, eggs, red onion and roasted shallot vinaigrette

Vegetable Spring Roll with soy bean and bok choy salad and ginger-garlic sauce

Roast Prime Rib of Beef with gratin potatoes and a cabernet sauce

Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle with chocolate ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce

Raspberry Sorbet

Kids - Fruit and Cheese Platter with carrots, celery sticks and ranch sauce for dipping
Kids - Hot Dog with mashed potatoes, green beans (w/carrots), and a garden salad
Kids - Raspberry Sorbet with fresh fruit

Food Review:

After meeting Cinderella and waiting another 10-15 minutes, we were called to go up the spiral staircase for seating. When we arrived upstairs were very lucky with our table location as it was a window seat in the middle area with direct views of the carousel and Dumbo out the back. We ordered iced tea and chocolate milk for the kids (I know, what a surprise!). I also asked for some water and they brought out very fancy bottled water which was refreshing since it had been a long day and I demolished my iced tea really quickly. They severed warmed bread with a whipped butter and a honey-Dijon butter that was quite good as well.

CRT-bread.jpg

Selection of bread and butters

Shortly after that our appetizers arrived. We ordered a BLT salad and the vegetable spring roll. The salad was very nicely presented and had a slightly smoky smell from the applewood bacon. The mixed greens were clean and fresh while the bacon was crisped and well spiced for a salad paring. The shallot vinaigrette complimented the salad wonderfully. It was a very good salad. Everyone enjoyed it.

CRT-salad-adult1.jpg

BLT Salad

The spring roll was presented with an angle cut so you could easily see what was inside and eat (or share as the case may be). What really made this appetizer dish was the crispiness of the outside fried spring roll with the medley of Asian flavors on the inside. The sauce added a slightly sweet hint when dipped with the spring rolls.

CRT-eggroll-adult1.jpg

Vegetable Spring Roll

DW and I are both fans of prime rib and having heard they were good here, we couldn’t resist. We were not disappointed in the meat or potatoes at all. The meat was perfectly cooked and well marbled. The juicy cut was also well seasoned and I didn’t need to go looking for horseradish or other accompaniments. Overall, it had a nice slightly garlic taste to the prime rib and is highly recommended by us. The potatoes were exceptionally creamy and rich, again we both really liked them. The asparagus was not to our liking as much. I attribute this to my taste since I like asparagus to be pretty well done and able to be cut with a fork. This asparagus was quickly steamed and blanched so it was quite crispy and hard to cut without a knife. And as DW doesn’t like asparagus at all, she didn’t like that part of the meal. The luscious prime rib and rich potatoes made up for any lack we found in the side greens.

CRT-Dinner-adult1.jpg

Prime Rib Plate

Our DD went with her favorite, a hot dog with all the trimmings. I was glad to see they offered something that kids really like here and wasn’t too posh of fancy. It was quite a bit of food and between what we had with our prime rib dinners and DD’s hot dog; our son had plenty to choose from. Everything disappeared at a good rate and we were all ready for dessert.

CRT-Dinner-kids.jpg

Kids Hot Dog Meal

At Last, Dessert in the Castle! The Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle was pretty good. I liked how it was served with a scoop of chocolate ice cream but found that I wanted a little bit more of the ice cream. The buckle itself has rich chocolate flavors and an inner silky smoothness from the cream cheese. I would get this again for sure, but might ask for a second scoop of ice cream. Of course, I also just really love extra ice cream with my cake like items! ;-)

CRT-Dessert-adult1.jpg

Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle

The kids had the sorbet and berries dessert. It was some of the best sorbet we have had. The blueberries and the fresh cut strawberries gave the sorbet added texture and bursts of berry sweetness when sampled together. The sorbet was great, smooth and silky. The berries were all just right, sweet and ripe and perfect with the sorbet. Another keeper here.

CRT-Dessert-kids.jpg

Kids Sorbet with fresh fruit

Atmosphere:

One of the largest draws for this restaurant is the location and atmosphere. It is truly magical and the décor and attire of the staff really adds to the experience. There were lots of very colorful crests on the walls and flags in the air toward the ceiling. The woodworking detail was very ornate and seemed to belong in the stone castle atmosphere of Cinderella’s Castle.

CRT-inside2.jpg

Inside shot showing wood scrolling, windows, etc.


CRT-inside.jpg

Another inside shot showing some crests and a chandelier.

CRT-inside-flags.jpg

More of the crests and hanging flags.

The show was cute and lasted for about 15-20 minutes or so. The mice came out and greeted everyone and were available for tableside pictures just before the show started. Then out came the Fairy Godmother and lead some songs and talked about a few things. The songs were fun and everyone had a good time.

CRT-Fairy-Godmother.jpg

Close up shot of the singing Fairy Godmother

The best part (and unexpected really) about our 8:25p.m. ADR was that it has us ending our dessert course about 10 minutes before the nightly Wishes fireworks show. The server said we could just hang out and enjoy the show from inside the castle. That was such a special treat since the fireworks are literally right there and you can feel the artillery shells go off even during certain parts. The music and words were piped into the restaurant as I recall as well. Our DD was wanting to ride Dumbo, but our server said a lot of the rides near the Castle are shut down for the fireworks since the shells are launched from right near them. To make DD feel better, she gave her a special pass to jump to the front of the line on any ride she wanted – like a fastpass, but no time assigned, just go. With DD’s disappointment averted, we were all able to really enjoy the show and more ice tea!

CRT-wishes2.jpg

Special Treat – Wishes outside our window

Other Notes:

When they take your photos downstairs with Cinderella, they give you a photo package. The package has four 4x6 prints and one 6x8 print of your Cinderella greeting photo as well as one 6x8 print of Cinderella Castle all in a Cinderella photo holder. This was delivered during our meal. We had the option of the whole family or just DD. As DS was being a little grumpy, we went with just DD and Cinderella.
 
You have made me even more excited for my birthday dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table, if that is even possible.

Beautiful food pictures and reviews. Thanks for taking the time to post about your eating adventures. :goodvibes
 
What a GREAT review! I have never eaten dinner there, and now I really want to try it! I was trying to decide between breakfast and dinner as we've always gone with breakfast or lunch for the characters but dinner looks like fun as well!
 
I am really enjoying your reviews, thanks for sharing. I especially enjoyed reading about CRT and hope to take bump there one day. How nice of your server to give your daughter the special ride pass :cloud9:

Laur's princess:
 
CRT-wishes2.jpg

Special Treat – Wishes outside our window

This looked like a wonderful time and I had never thought of going during Wishes. That is a fantastic picture! We will definitely have to consider doing this on our next trip.
 
:thumbsup2 The Tollhouse Cookie shakes at the Plaza are great too! We love going here for lunch!
 





New Posts










Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top