jolynda
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2007
- Messages
- 79
Dinner reservations for 6 pm at Celebration Roundup BBQ WAY at the back of DL Park!
We checked in and I found out it wasnt like character meals where you pay beforehand. We were to pay our server. This meant tips and tax were not included in the $28.99 price for adults and kids over 10 ($13.99 for kids aged 2-9). Yikes! The Celebration area has a series of picnic tables all over and there is a small stage at the back.
We were escorted over to get pics with Woody. Michael and Woody had a dance off which was HILARIOUS! Then they took us to our seats. There seemed to be way more CMs than customers! Keep in mind this was the 2nd day the place was open. We had a LOT of attention paid to us. Miss Chris and a guitar player wandered the tables talking and singing. Miss Chriss had my son Michael go up on stage and ring the bell for his b-day and she sang him a uniquely Michael birthday song.
Jessie came out and interacted. Woody wandered and came over for a while. Bullseye stopped by, and so did the Chipmunks. There was a single gift bag on the table I assume it was for my daughter. It is a canvas bag with a magnet board and punch out magnet figures to play with, a Mickey straw. She also got her drink in a souvenir cup they did bring an extra souvenir cup for my son too, even though he was over 10. The server appointed my daughter as the mom of the table and my son was the dad. Then they brought the food.
There was a bowl of coleslaw with a vinegar based dressing (not creamy). It tasted fresh and I ate some, but I prefer creamy slaw. The kids didnt touch it. There we re some good baked beans. The cornbread had little pieces of corn. It would have been better if it had been warm so the butter would melt on the bread (or even spread for that matter). Then there was corn on the cob and finally, a big ole bucket of chicken & ribs. Oh and extra BBQ sauce Miss Chris SPECIAL BBQ sauce, no less (sweet but tangy with a zest of spicy goodness) We dug in. Corn? Yum! Cornbread? Just OK needs to be warmer. Didnt taste fresh baked. Beans they were good (my son recommends putting a bit of BBQ sauce on them). Chicken good but a bit bland. But youll find that Miss Chris BBQ sauce perks it right up!! And then we have the ribs. Yum, yum, YUM! Now they dont advertise it as such, but this really is an all you can eat meal. If you want more of anything, they bring it. We had another basket of cornbread brought, as well as 2 more buckets of ribs! The kids declared them some of the best ribs theyve had in a LONG time! They kept our drinks topped.
As we ate, they did a couple of mini shows on stage dont miss Jessies apple trick! Hee hee! Then a cowboy came on and was singing. At first, the kids were giggling at how hokey it all was. So we decided to join them! And we started singing Home on the Range a couple of Castmembers joined us and one, Carol, ran over and very enthusiastically joined us as we howled our way through the song and everyone stared at us like we were nuts! Carol was great! She is VERY enthusiastic and was dancing and singing and joyful! I hope she infects the other CMs with her great attitude! She was awesome!
The Celebration BBQ really needs an infusion of enthusiasm to make it as fun as I think it has the potential to be. My son got up and was doing some country dancing and some other kids started interacting with CMs too. Like other character meals, they came by with the photos taken at the beginning of the meal, wanting to sell them to us for ~ $30. I bought them, in part because the place is so new and in part because it was my sons birthday. But I am still having heart palpitations from paying so much for a couple of pics!
Anyway, when they brought us dessert cone cakes we smiled. The presentation is beautiful! Cupcakes in a waffle cone! We had one of each flavor: one chocolate with chocolate mousse filling, one blueberry with lemon mousse filling, one strawberry with another creamy filling, and finally, a red velvet cake with rasberry filling. The cones came in a beautiful, colorful metal stand, boosting the presentation grade to an A!
We all settled on a flavor and dug in and we all grimaced in unison! The cupcakes were not good! The frosting wasnt sweet enough and had very little flavor. The cake was coarse and seemed stale not at all the cake-like texture I was expecting. We did, however, like the mousse filling UNDER the cupcakes. And we liked the waffle cones. I hope they work on the flavor and quality of the cone cakes to improve them because they were not good. Overall grade: C-
PS - Woody's fave is the Strawberry
But all in all, we left the BBQ area smiling and full. The consensus of my kids was that they had fun, they liked the food (LOVED the ribs) and they want to do it again!
When they brought the bill, I gave them my credit card. When they brought it back for me to sign, at first I didnt notice that they had tacked on a 15% gratuity! I almost double tipped! Personally, I kind of resent places that add a gratuity FOR me. That should be MY decision, not theirs. Its like a hidden fee. If they want to include the gratuity, they should do it up front and make it part of the meal price, not slip it in at the end like that. That said, I did add a few dollars more for some great service from our server, Carrick. So with gratuity and taxes, the bill for this dinner was much more than I was expecting. BUT we got entertainment. We got to eat as much as we wanted. When we go out to most restaurants, they dont bring you more. I wont do this all the time, but we will do it again, and I look forward to experiencing it again when its not so new and they get it rolling. I did see a lot of people stop and read the menu with great interest, only to walk away when they saw the $29/person price.
Final thoughts: Celebration BBQ is a work in progress. We liked it, but we think they need to find their comfort zone and figure out who they are before it hits it potential for fun.
We checked in and I found out it wasnt like character meals where you pay beforehand. We were to pay our server. This meant tips and tax were not included in the $28.99 price for adults and kids over 10 ($13.99 for kids aged 2-9). Yikes! The Celebration area has a series of picnic tables all over and there is a small stage at the back.
We were escorted over to get pics with Woody. Michael and Woody had a dance off which was HILARIOUS! Then they took us to our seats. There seemed to be way more CMs than customers! Keep in mind this was the 2nd day the place was open. We had a LOT of attention paid to us. Miss Chris and a guitar player wandered the tables talking and singing. Miss Chriss had my son Michael go up on stage and ring the bell for his b-day and she sang him a uniquely Michael birthday song.
Jessie came out and interacted. Woody wandered and came over for a while. Bullseye stopped by, and so did the Chipmunks. There was a single gift bag on the table I assume it was for my daughter. It is a canvas bag with a magnet board and punch out magnet figures to play with, a Mickey straw. She also got her drink in a souvenir cup they did bring an extra souvenir cup for my son too, even though he was over 10. The server appointed my daughter as the mom of the table and my son was the dad. Then they brought the food.
There was a bowl of coleslaw with a vinegar based dressing (not creamy). It tasted fresh and I ate some, but I prefer creamy slaw. The kids didnt touch it. There we re some good baked beans. The cornbread had little pieces of corn. It would have been better if it had been warm so the butter would melt on the bread (or even spread for that matter). Then there was corn on the cob and finally, a big ole bucket of chicken & ribs. Oh and extra BBQ sauce Miss Chris SPECIAL BBQ sauce, no less (sweet but tangy with a zest of spicy goodness) We dug in. Corn? Yum! Cornbread? Just OK needs to be warmer. Didnt taste fresh baked. Beans they were good (my son recommends putting a bit of BBQ sauce on them). Chicken good but a bit bland. But youll find that Miss Chris BBQ sauce perks it right up!! And then we have the ribs. Yum, yum, YUM! Now they dont advertise it as such, but this really is an all you can eat meal. If you want more of anything, they bring it. We had another basket of cornbread brought, as well as 2 more buckets of ribs! The kids declared them some of the best ribs theyve had in a LONG time! They kept our drinks topped.
As we ate, they did a couple of mini shows on stage dont miss Jessies apple trick! Hee hee! Then a cowboy came on and was singing. At first, the kids were giggling at how hokey it all was. So we decided to join them! And we started singing Home on the Range a couple of Castmembers joined us and one, Carol, ran over and very enthusiastically joined us as we howled our way through the song and everyone stared at us like we were nuts! Carol was great! She is VERY enthusiastic and was dancing and singing and joyful! I hope she infects the other CMs with her great attitude! She was awesome!
The Celebration BBQ really needs an infusion of enthusiasm to make it as fun as I think it has the potential to be. My son got up and was doing some country dancing and some other kids started interacting with CMs too. Like other character meals, they came by with the photos taken at the beginning of the meal, wanting to sell them to us for ~ $30. I bought them, in part because the place is so new and in part because it was my sons birthday. But I am still having heart palpitations from paying so much for a couple of pics!
Anyway, when they brought us dessert cone cakes we smiled. The presentation is beautiful! Cupcakes in a waffle cone! We had one of each flavor: one chocolate with chocolate mousse filling, one blueberry with lemon mousse filling, one strawberry with another creamy filling, and finally, a red velvet cake with rasberry filling. The cones came in a beautiful, colorful metal stand, boosting the presentation grade to an A!
We all settled on a flavor and dug in and we all grimaced in unison! The cupcakes were not good! The frosting wasnt sweet enough and had very little flavor. The cake was coarse and seemed stale not at all the cake-like texture I was expecting. We did, however, like the mousse filling UNDER the cupcakes. And we liked the waffle cones. I hope they work on the flavor and quality of the cone cakes to improve them because they were not good. Overall grade: C-
PS - Woody's fave is the Strawberry
But all in all, we left the BBQ area smiling and full. The consensus of my kids was that they had fun, they liked the food (LOVED the ribs) and they want to do it again!
When they brought the bill, I gave them my credit card. When they brought it back for me to sign, at first I didnt notice that they had tacked on a 15% gratuity! I almost double tipped! Personally, I kind of resent places that add a gratuity FOR me. That should be MY decision, not theirs. Its like a hidden fee. If they want to include the gratuity, they should do it up front and make it part of the meal price, not slip it in at the end like that. That said, I did add a few dollars more for some great service from our server, Carrick. So with gratuity and taxes, the bill for this dinner was much more than I was expecting. BUT we got entertainment. We got to eat as much as we wanted. When we go out to most restaurants, they dont bring you more. I wont do this all the time, but we will do it again, and I look forward to experiencing it again when its not so new and they get it rolling. I did see a lot of people stop and read the menu with great interest, only to walk away when they saw the $29/person price.
Final thoughts: Celebration BBQ is a work in progress. We liked it, but we think they need to find their comfort zone and figure out who they are before it hits it potential for fun.
