Christmas Trip 2008 Family Dining Reviews

[tortoni]

We decided to go to WDW this year for Christmas and we were lucky enough to be able to use the Disney Visa free dining promo for the whole trip. There were 10 of us: my husband, two sisters, one-brother-in-law, two nieces (22 and 18) and our 3 kids (18, 15 and 13). Most of us have been to WDW many times. For one of my sisters, it was her second trip. We did several group meals and broke into smaller groups for some meals. We ate TS at:

Chefs de France
Hollywood and Vine
Marrakesh
Grand Floridan Café
Beaches and Cream
The Yachtsman
Cape May Café
SciFi Diner
OHana
Tutto Italia
Biergarten
Kona Café
Le Cellier
San Angel Café

We ate counter service all over the place but everyone agreed that Wolfgang Puck Express was the best food and value in CS. The worst, well, a tie maybe, I’ll get to that later.

I have some pictures, but not a lot and will insert them as I go along.
Many of the menus were different from allears, but each had delicious things to eat.

I should also mention that we had pixie dust on arrival and were fortunate to be upgraded to the concierge lounge at the Yacht Club, which was great, and added even more food to the trip!

First up, Chef’s de France for diner on our first night. We had a lovely CS serve 6 of us. Atmosphere and service were terrific. DS13 had a burger and fries and was in heaven. DS ordered a shortrib dish that had some noodles with it. She enjoyed this very much and said the gravy was quite good even though it did not look as though the gravy was enough to cover all the noodles and meat. The rest of us had a filet with potatos and greens. My kids were allowed to switch out the creamy potatos for mashed or fries, which was nice. The steak was quite tender, cooked to our specifications and very tasty with the gravy provided. DH thought the portion was on the small side, but I thought it was enough to fill everyone, especially since dessert was included and would be order. DH and I had the profitroles. I had been looking forward to these and was a bit disappointed as the crust tasted a bit stale and the chocolate sauce was overwhelming. I know that the puff shells should be crisp, but these were stale, not crisp. I love chocolate, but I could not taste much else, except notice the stale shells. DH agreed. The kids just had ice cream, which they enjoyed and my sister order the crème brulee, which she liked very much. Over the course of the week, she had crème brulee at Chefs, Le Cellier and Woflgang Puck Express and guess which she liked best? You will be surprised to learn WPE! I also had the Le Cellier Maple Brulee and WPE and preferred the WPE.
While we were in Chefs, DS and her family were at Hollywood and Vine, which they found to be much better than anticipated. Can’t say more since I was not there.

We were all stuffed after dinner, tired from our trip down, and decided to head back to the Yacht Club. So nice to find more pastries and cordials in the concierge lounge, which were enjoyed by all!

Next up, GF Café and the lobster burger. Was it a good combo? Hmm.

 

[Reagan&Co.]

Oooh, this should be good!
Thanks!

 

[pumba]

pixie dust is right.......that was fantastic....

Maybe next trip I will try the creme brulee.......I have never ordered it as I was always to FULL after dinner.......

Thanks for your reviews.....look forward to the photos

 

[danalee]

sound good, I'm ready

 

[tortoni]

I’m going out of order here because it’s been almost two weeks since we were there and I’m kind of fuzzy on the details of when we did what. So one morning we were at MK for an early start, which was a must do during the Christmas holidays. I can’t believe how crowded it got after 11 am compared to our relatively quiet mornings. After getting fast passes for the group, we convened at the Main Street Bakery and were quite happy to learn that you could use CS here under the dining plan. For each CS, you could get a French toast loaf, or egg sandwich or cheese combo, plus a pastry plus a couple of drinks. (not sure if it was one or two drinks). We had the French toast loaf (yes, it is as good as everyone says), the cinnamon bun (counted only as a pastry but it was huge and delicious), a chocolate bundt cake (for breakfast, yes, but it’s vacation!), an an egg and cheese sandwich which was large and yummy and a croissant plus some lattes and OJ. We cut these up for sharing and it was enough for 6 of us to snack on before we moved on to popcorn, funnel cakes in Liberty Square, fries from Columbia Harbor House and ice cream from Mrs. Potts. Those snack credits go a long way and we had 80 to burn among the group! By midday, we had watched part of the parade and wanted out of the park. Since two more had joined the six of us, we had to pass on our Tony’s ADR ☹, which helped out some other family and we decided to go to the Grand Floridian Café for lunch. We had been there before for lunch and had enjoyed it and we all wanted to see the gingerbread house. When we got there there was a CM doing a demo on making a gingerbread house and a huge tra of samples for all to try. This was a lot of fun and we all had a pre-lunch dessert. Then on to GFC. DN and I both love lobster so we were curious about the lobster burger and we both ordered it. In my opinion (and hers), it did not come together well. The burger was a bit dry and it did not go well with the lobster. We did enjoy the hollandaise sauce and the asparagus that came with the dish. Other DN had the reuben which was huge, with a cucumber salad and she loved it. My sister and DH had a wonderful tilapia that came with a lime butter sauce and veggies. They were both happy with their dishes. DS, DD and other my other sister all had a strip steak. Unfortunately, the strip steaks were overcooked and a bit tough. Since our waitress basically disappeared after we ordered, we had no luck switching out the steaks. For dessert, I only recall that DN and I each ordered the fondue. It came with strawberries, pineapple, and marshmallows . Well, the chocolate was nothing less than funky and oily. Finally, when the waitress appeared, she said it comes that way sometimes. Well, we sent them back and got ice cream instead. Overall, it was just okay and I’m not sure we would go back again.

 

[skellingtonfreak]

Great start so far..I am in!

 

[hippsmom]

Oh yeah, that creme brulee at WPE is the best!! I liked it better than Le Cellier too.

 

[tortoni]

Ok, so on our day in MGM, we had an ADR at SciFi. We started the day at Toy Story Mania—what fun. Then a few other rides and it was time for a frozen coke and cinnamon pretzel at Herbies on or way into Lights, Motors, Action. The coke was okay, but the pretzel was great. Lunch was late and we were all hungry. Let me say that we usually make an ADR for SciFi because we love the atmosphere . We also stick with sandwiches and burgers and find the food to be fine. This trip was not disappointing. Fun movie experience while we enjoyed burgers with the works and Rueben sandwiches. We had a great CM and really enjoyed our experience. We had a couple of shakes and these were just ok. The burgers really shined, though, and we were stuffed when we were done. This is a must do for us and it was great. After lunch we spent time in Stormalong Bay before an evening at DTD and WPE for dinner, up next.

 

[natalielongstaff]

Great reviews keep them coming