Cass, Rob and Kira back in Disney - Food Reviews!! Completed 03/13/2010!

[Timon]

Bad thing was, is that I was video taping the fireworks and you can hear Kristin crying in the background. Don't worry though, it wasn't for too long ... maybe only an hour or so. Just kidding everyone.

Always when you find something you just love. Like me, with my McDonalds SW salad dressing. I could drink that stuff right out of the bottle!!

I hate it when they do that!

Loving your reviews, Cass! In the CP reviews we can see that Kira has a Bolt tattoo - was that from Disney or something you brought from home??

Jill

She got those Bolt Tattoos from MGM. We were on our way to the Animation Building and a very nice CM gave Kira some Tattoos. She didn't know who Bolt was but it doesn't matter because she loves tattoos! She also had on her Daddy's Star Wars 501st costuming club tattoos on...like I said, she doesn't care what's on the tatoo

Love this pic!! Great review for Crystal Palace. We've never eaten there before. Why does it seem like the buffet places have the best food?! Of course we've only tried Boma (for dinner), but we LOVE it every trip! Are you going to review food from your cruise? Keep them coming...

We did a few buffets this trip, partly because Rob loves a huge variety of food and partly because Kira was still free. We loved every single one of them except Chef Mikey's, which happens to be my next review

And yes, I will keep going right through the cruise with the reviews!

I love lunch at Crystal Palace. Between that and Boma it's my favorite buffet on property. I can't wait to eat there again in a few months!

Both of them were amazing and will be part of our next trip as well!

Those photos of you all with the characters are so cute! Especially that one with Kira and Eeyore!! Thanks for the CP review, we have a reservation for breakfast on our next trip and it has been years since we have eaten there.

Never tried the breakfast there, only the lunch. You will have to let us know how you like the breakfast!

 

[Timon]

Chef Mickey's at The Contemporary Resort - October 21st, 2009

We were meeting up with S, B & B for supper at Chef Mick's for 6pm so around 5pm we hopped on the resort monorail. We toured the resort a bit and then met with them just before 6pm. We checked in, were given a pager and then we sat in the waiting area.

I must say that this little waiting area was a huge improvement to this restaurant! They used to have that round embankment of benches around the Mickey sign, which only held maybe 8 people and it was always so busy and crowded.

Kira enjoyed crawling over all the benches while we waited.

It was awhile before we were seated and then they took us all the way back to where the far side of the buffet starts. I would have preferred a table in the main area but no biggie I guess.

Now, this is usually our favourite place to eat. We've eaten here during every trip (except once in 2005 because we were both really sick and had to cancel) and have loved it every time! We love to twirl our napkins and hug Mickey and have always enjoyed the food.

So it was completing shocking to us just how horrible this meal was!

I don't think there was a single thing I enjoyed here

Let's start with the food....

It was really bad! Normally I have 3 helpings of those amazing parmesan mashed potatoes....I think I had 4 bites this time. They were tasteless and full of uncooked lumps of potatoes!!!

I just couldn't believe how bad they were! In fact, I was certain that they had just messed up that one batch so I waited for them to bring out a brand new pot of potatoes.

Those were gross too!

I also normally love the prime rib here! This stuff was full of grizzle and fat, I couldn't take a single bite without getting tons of both!

Just like with the potatoes, I waited for a brand new hunk of meat to be served, ran up and got it only to find that it was the same crap as the other crap.

The potato salad was gross, the macaroni was gross...in fact everything that I normally eat here was just disgusting!

I even thought the desserts were average.

And now for the characters....

I wrote about them in my trip report so I am just going to post a quote from that...

The characters were awful!! They barely spent any time at all at the table! They stopped for ONE photo and that was it! Of course S & B were nice enough to let Kira have all the attention but they were totally left out. They weren't horribly upset about it but I was! I wanted a group shot but the second they took a pic with Kira they were gonzo!!!

I was also upset that they didn't do the table rotation the same everytime. We always watched to see in what order they visited the tables so that we could prepare Kira for when they were coming. Well, they changed order almost every time and skipped our table and did 3 extras and then came back to us so Kira was often left waiting there with her autograph book waiting for 10-15 minutes!

I was also NOT impressed with Mickey Mouse! I know, it sounds wrong but the mouse was peeing me off! He was the worst offender and did an extra 4 tables before coming back to us (made no sense the way he did it either!) and then when he went to sign her book, he totally skipped his page!!!


I was really mad about this because we had seen Mickey a few times now but we waited until this meal to get his signature. Minnie had no problem signing her page but Mickey didn't even take the time to LOOK at the page!

Here's her book...

I was in a bad mood at this point. I was miffed because I put Mickey on the very first page (for a reason!) and he messed it up, Kira was totally melting down at this point and we just paid a small fortune for a horrible meal!!!

Here's a few pics of the characters...

The desserts were OK but I was all pissy by now and it was hard to enjoy them. We paid the bill and got out of there as fast as we could!!!

So needless to say (with a lot of sadness too!) we won't be going back to Chef Mickey's Dinner for quite some time.

I don't have my bill but each adult buffet was $30 + tax + tip, which is a huge ripoff for this meal! When we first went here in 1999, it was $16 per adult! Double the price in 10 years, wow!!! I don't mind paying for a quality meal, but when you leave a buffet hungry, well that just makes me mad!

Rating: out of 5

 

[java]

Have to agree on Chef Mickey's we are not fans.

On the signing maybe he thought you were putting the photo on that page?? Can't think of any other reason.

I am enjoying your report and your daughter is adorable and full of personality! love it!

 

[Timon]

Have to agree on Chef Mickey's we are not fans.

On the signing maybe he thought you were putting the photo on that page?? Can't think of any other reason.

I am enjoying your report and your daughter is adorable and full of personality! love it!

I thought about that too but every other character wrote on their individual page. They were all smart enough to figure it out, why not the Big Cheese

 

[sandym718]

I'm sorry you were disappointed, but I have to agree with the above poster. If *I* were a character signing, I would have signed on the left as well, leaving the right side for a picture. I guess I wouldn't be "smart enough" to "figure it out" either.

I'm sorry the food was awful. I was nervous about dinner here on our last trip, but we really liked it. Guess they're very inconsistent?

I'm curious if the character dining spots have some sort of unofficial policy on # of photos at the tables? I know when we've gone, sometimes it's been frustrating to be waiting to see a character and then a table proceeds to take 5 or more different "combinations" of pictures - each kid alone, kids together, parents in the photo, etc. etc. We have just 2 kids and b/c I appreciate that their time is limited and lots of people are waiting, we always have just 1 photo taken, with both of them in it. Each child will give a hug, maybe a few words/goofing around and then they're off. It works out fine for us. DH and I have no desire/need for a character photo (we sometimes get one of the whole family with Mickey in the park somewhere) and I just print out 2 copies of the one with both kids for each of their autograph books. I think 2, maybe 3 photos is reasonable. But if you've got 4 kids, to do them each separate, then all together, then with other family members - well it gets a bit excessive in my opinion, when others are waiting. I've never heard if there's any unofficial policy. I can just imagine a large party wanting 15-20 photos which would be crazy!

I agree that they should stick to the same "pattern" of going to tables. How frustrating to think a character is coming and then be skipped!! Makes it very confusing!

 

[disnut1149]

Hi
I have to agree about Chef Mickeys. It used to be so much better. We were there in August and won't be going back. The food was terrible, and the characters didn't spend as much time as they used to with my DGD. It's a shame, because it was such a fun place to have dinner.

 

[Timon]

I'm sorry you were disappointed, but I have to agree with the above poster. If *I* were a character signing, I would have signed on the left as well, leaving the right side for a picture. I guess I wouldn't be "smart enough" to "figure it out" either.

I'm sorry the food was awful. I was nervous about dinner here on our last trip, but we really liked it. Guess they're very inconsistent?

I'm curious if the character dining spots have some sort of unofficial policy on # of photos at the tables? I know when we've gone, sometimes it's been frustrating to be waiting to see a character and then a table proceeds to take 5 or more different "combinations" of pictures - each kid alone, kids together, parents in the photo, etc. etc. We have just 2 kids and b/c I appreciate that their time is limited and lots of people are waiting, we always have just 1 photo taken, with both of them in it. Each child will give a hug, maybe a few words/goofing around and then they're off. It works out fine for us. DH and I have no desire/need for a character photo (we sometimes get one of the whole family with Mickey in the park somewhere) and I just print out 2 copies of the one with both kids for each of their autograph books. I think 2, maybe 3 photos is reasonable. But if you've got 4 kids, to do them each separate, then all together, then with other family members - well it gets a bit excessive in my opinion, when others are waiting. I've never heard if there's any unofficial policy. I can just imagine a large party wanting 15-20 photos which would be crazy!

I agree that they should stick to the same "pattern" of going to tables. How frustrating to think a character is coming and then be skipped!! Makes it very confusing!

Sounds like I might have ruffled a few feathers with my comment about Mickey.

I was only joking about him not being "smart enough to figure it out" so I am sorry if you took offense to that comment. These characters go through a lot of training and they've seen a million different autograph books. I am shocked that they are able to do what they do, they are amazing and I personally would not like their job, they have to deal with a lot of crap!

What I was trying to say was that this particular "Mickey" was in such a hurry that I don't think he even bothered to look at the page for more than a second, he saw a white blank page and wrote on there.

I have been to dozens of characters meals before and depending on how busy the restaurant is, they can take anywhere from a few minutes to 6-7 minutes with each table. I do not have a problem waiting our turn and I also don't have a problem waiting a few extra minutes for a table that has 3 or 4 kids or a very large group.

What I do have a problem with is paying $30 each for a character "experience" only to have the characters stop at my table and spend less than one minute with our large party.

They all basically came straight to Kira, signed her book, paused 3 seconds for a photo with her and left. Now, if it was just the three of us, I wouldn't have minded so much but the fact that we were clearly a group of two families and none of them even waited to see "if" the other family at our table would like a photo, well that's just wrong.

We weren't asking for 15 or 20 photos, only 2 of them. I don't think that is an unreasonable request.

As for the food, like I said before, we've been to this place a lot. We have raved about their food and service to many, many friends. We've had a lot of good times and great memories at this place, which is why we were SO disappointed.

I'm not saying to anyone to NOT do this dinner, I am giving you my opinion and sharing my experience there. Was it just an off night for them? Maybe. I don't know. Are they inconsistent? I don't know.

The only thing I know is that the food here was fabulous during every trip from 1999 to 2007 and this time is was disgusting.

People can make up their own minds to eat there or not. I have chosen, based on this last meal, not to return for awhile. Other may choose to eat there and love it!

 

[Timon]

Hi
I have to agree about Chef Mickeys. It used to be so much better. We were there in August and won't be going back. The food was terrible, and the characters didn't spend as much time as they used to with my DGD. It's a shame, because it was such a fun place to have dinner.

It was a great place! We have so many fabulous memories here. I hope they get their stuff together so we can make even more great memories here with Kira!

 

[GMS]

Oh, NO!! We've been disappointed the last 2 visits to CM, but the kids always want to go back...I guess it's more about them anyway. We are going to try it again in March but that's it...if I don't like it...no more CM's for us! You can salvage that page by putting a family pic or something there with MM, that would look pretty cool anyway!

 

[Timon]

Oh, NO!! We've been disappointed the last 2 visits to CM, but the kids always want to go back...I guess it's more about them anyway. We are going to try it again in March but that's it...if I don't like it...no more CM's for us! You can salvage that page by putting a family pic or something there with MM, that would look pretty cool anyway!

Rob took Kira to see Mickey on the Magic the following week and he got that Mickey to sign in the proper spot.

I think for our next trip I would book a princess dinner over CM's and maybe do CM's the next time.

I hope it's really good in March for you!

 

[cntkg1]

Not even those shrimpies tasted good??

I won't even comment on the prime rib, you've heard my feelings on that already.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I thought about that too but every other character wrote on their individual page. They were all smart enough to figure it out, why not the Big Cheese

I looked at your pics of the whole book when you added them in your TR, (love the book BTW,) his is the only page, as far as I can tell, that has a blank page next to it, so maybe that's why he thought that? That's the only reason I can think of. I'd hope Mickey wouldn't be so ignorant otherwise.

I'd add a pic to that page though, it'd probably make it look more balanced instead of having a big empty space there.

 

[sandym718]

What I do have a problem with is paying $30 each for a character "experience" only to have the characters stop at my table and spend less than one minute with our large party.

They all basically came straight to Kira, signed her book, paused 3 seconds for a photo with her and left. Now, if it was just the three of us, I wouldn't have minded so much but the fact that we were clearly a group of two families and none of them even waited to see "if" the other family at our table would like a photo, well that's just wrong.

We weren't asking for 15 or 20 photos, only 2 of them. I don't think that is an unreasonable request.

No, I completely agree - less than a minute is RIDICULOUS!! A few photos is completely reasonable. I'm just curious to know if anyone has ever heard of any sort of policy. Because we did see people asking for TONS of photos and I just thought that was a little extreme. And then I'm sure the characters do feel rushed when that happens - other families are done eating and they haven't gotten to them and I"m sure that's stressful. No reason to shortchange another family and who knows if that's what even happened here, I just know I've seen it. If everyone would just be a bit more reasonable (not referring to you, you seem very reasonable about it!) then it would probably go more smoothly for everyone! Same for the families who think it's OK to go TO the characters, thus interrupting the "flow" or even another family's time!

 

[OurDogCisco]

No, I completely agree - less than a minute is RIDICULOUS!! A few photos is completely reasonable. I'm just curious to know if anyone has ever heard of any sort of policy. Because we did see people asking for TONS of photos and I just thought that was a little extreme. And then I'm sure the characters do feel rushed when that happens - other families are done eating and they haven't gotten to them and I"m sure that's stressful. No reason to shortchange another family and who knows if that's what even happened here, I just know I've seen it. If everyone would just be a bit more reasonable (not referring to you, you seem very reasonable about it!) then it would probably go more smoothly for everyone! Same for the families who think it's OK to go TO the characters, thus interrupting the "flow" or even another family's time!

I understand what you mean. We were eating at 1900 Park Fare and there was a party of about 10 people. They totally didn't understand the flow at all and would pull the characters out of sequence. They would take 100 pictures with different groupings and I totally understand that part. But they spent a lot of time trying to get what they wanted. I really wanted to tell them off. But I do think the handlers should be reminding diners what the policy is. I don't even know if there is a policy. At this particular breakfast we sat there for 2 1/2 hours to see all the characters. I'm not sure if they were short handed but made me upset. Anyways... we'll never eat there again because they don't seem to have good control of their guests (we also ate dinner there once as well and had the same issue). It seems like at Crystal Palace they are really good about explaining how the characters roam the room. The waiter always tells us which door they are coming from and how they rotate and about the parade. The last time we ate there the waiter even told us not to get up right away because the characters were coming around in a few minutes. They always tell us the characters may leave but they always come back to the same table. Anyways... I'm not sure what the policy is. I think, everyone is entitled to a picture and autograph and that characters should not assume that older kids or adults are not interested in the interaction. As for a large group taking up time, I don't think that is an issue because whether you had 2 tables of 5 people or 3 tables with 4, 4 & 2 people or a table with 10 people it is the same number of people. I just think in our 1900 Park Fare example was an exception with a family that didn't understand how it worked. But their staff did not explain it either.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Yay... a food report! Loving it so far....

 

[MickeyNicki]

I am so sorry you had a lousy meal at CM but I will admit we had a terrible meal there too! The characters were great but the food was soooooo bad that we all left hungry!

Now breakfast is excellent......we loved our CM breakfast so much I would go back again and again

 

[Timon]

Princess Storybook Breakfast at Norway in Epcot - October 22nd, 2009

I knew I had wanted Kira to have a princess meal but I wasn't keen on the one at Cinderella Castle. Too expensive, too busy and hard to get an ADR for so I opted for the less popular one in Norway. I saw the menu for the lunch and dinner and the food didn't appeal to this picky eater at all so I made an ADR for a late breakfast.

We arrived just a little before our ADR time, checked in and waited around for quite some time. I wish they had a place to wait inside because it was really hot out and I think we waited about 15-20 minutes out there and there was no shade either

Finally our names were called and then we waited in a line. I didn't know what the line was for since it was our first time there but as soon as we rounded the corner and saw Belle taking pictures, we figured it out. Belle was posing for a picture with each family and then later on they delivered a gorgeous frame with that photo in it to your table. As soon as I saw the photo, I was like DONE! How much do you want??? I would have gladly paid $25 for it (unlike Chef Mickey's where I don't even get the photo taken anymore) and then they said it was included in our meal!

OK, let's go back a little bit though...

We opted for a photo of just Kira for the professional one and then we got a family shot done too which they took for us with our own camera.

This is the one I took from my camera...

This is the family shot with our camera....I laugh at this pic every time I see it because I look like a third wheel in this shot....hmmm, there's Belle and Daddy and Kira and the chick in the back LOL!

So they took us into this gorgeous room and we found our table. As soon as we were seated, our waitress came by and took our drink order and told us that we could help ourselves to the cold buffet anytime. Rob went and got some food and when he came back he looked really happy!

Here's why...

He was thrilled to find all his favourite fruit, berries!

Which he promptly turned into a fruit salad using his coffee creamer

The waitress brought him some honey and he was set!

Rob's plate

Before...

After...

After he got back, it was my turn to go up. I think I got a croissant and that's it...I was waiting on the hot stuff!!

And as soon as I got back, there it was!

My plate...

The food was uh-may-ZING!!!!!!!!!

The potatoes were like crack, I just couldn't stop eating them!!! The eggs were nicely done, not too dry and the bacon was perfect!

Not long into our breakfast, Cinderella appeared! The look on Kira's face during this whole meal was absolutely priceless!

She was so excited that she didn't even put down the croissant that she had in her hand LOL!!!

All the ladies who were playing the princesses were so good at their job. The were very princess-like and they treated Kira very kindly and they were so gentle with her as if she were made of glass and would break. I thought that was such a nice touch!

Aurora came immediately after and she was thrilled to see Kira in an Aurora dress and Kira was thrilled to tell her all about it!

Next up was Snow White. We needed her signature since we hadn't seen her yet so she signed Kira's book while Kira watched in awe.

Snow talked a bit to Kira about her autograph book, they were talking about apples and the Witch and Kira was on talking to her!

Next up was Ariel. Although I would say that Ariel is Kira's least favourite princess, she was beaming when she got to our table.

I think Ariel did the best job at being in her character. Kira saw her dress and said "You have legs!" and Ariel lifted her dress up and showed them to her She spoke really loud and fast and did everything just like Ariel does in the movie.

By that time, I had finished off the first plate and asked for another one.

Two minutes later, there it was!

Kira was on a high from seeing all the princesses one after the other, she just quietly sat and nibbled on her food while watching all the princesses visiting the other tables nearby.

A lady (CM) came by and gave her a Snow White mirror magnet, which I thought was really nice.

During the next 10 minutes, the princesses had come back around and although they had just seen Kira, they all stopped by for a quick hug or a hello. They all remembered her name and used it. I was so impressed!

At this point, another CM came by and showed us the photo package. I was thrilled and loved how it turned out.

It came with a large 8x10 in the frame as well as 4 4x6's, 2 each of two poses. I was impressed!

Rob and I were on a huge high, not only from the fantastic food but also from the frame/photos and from the happiness that exuded from our daughter!

Total with Tax $66.01 + a very nice tip!

This meal was FIVE HUGE 's and will definitely be a part of all future trips!

Now THIS is how you do a character buffet!!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'm glad you liked Akershus. I love breakfast there, especially the potatoes.

 

[cntkg1]

Would it look funny if Chuck and I went to a Princess Breakfast without a little princess of our own?

I loved all this pictures in this update especially the second one with Aurora. The one with Ariel is precious too.

 

[Sam'sMom0126]

So incredible! I hope we have a little girl someday so we can do that princess meal. Such GREAT pics!

As it is we are heading to Chef Mickey's for dinner which I am not super pleased about but all my DS wants to do is eat with Mickey! I agree with you on the food and character interaction there. Last time we went we didn't even see all the characters and we were there for well over an hour. Which as you know is a VERY long time with a toddler! We'll see how it works out this year. fingers crossed!