*COMPLETE!* Dining Report 12/3-12/10 DxDP 70 SNACKS!

[disneyfav4ever]

I'm looking forward to your review of Cape May Cafe.

 

[Dislover1991]

Oh, the holiday cupcake from Hollywood Studios- we saw it that morning when we grabbed a sandwich at Starring Rolls but weren't hungry enough for the cupcake. We planned to go back after Fantasmic and grab one but unfortunately they were already closed. We never had the opportunity to try one

I can't wait for your review of the clam bake. We are huge seafood fans and are thinking of trying out the buffet at CM when we head back sometime in 2015.

Also, your 50s Prime Time review is great too. We may try that next time as well. We always do SciFi and love the atmosphere there. However, they rarely change up the menu and I think each of us has tried everything on the menu that looks appetizing- it's just a very limited menu. So we may try some place new next time.

 

[RGirl]

The cupcakes and all the food at 50s look great!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[budafam]

Welcome to everyone joining in! 50's food is always just great when we go. I knew my dad & sister would LOVE it there.

I agree about Sci-Fi being pretty limited. I don't think we'll be back anytime soon.

We had a very late reservation for this night... I was unable to change it (I seriously tried every day for about a month). I got 30 minutes earlier (8pm) so I stuck with that and just prayed that we could get in earlier.

I think we arrived at the Beach Club (via boat from HS) around 7pm. I checked in and *may* have used my dad's age to get us in earlier... lol. "My dad is 76 years old and super tired from today... we just want to eat, if you could squeeze us in a little bit earlier, that would be great!" The sweet girls said they would "try" and then they gushed over my nail designs and how they wish they could have cool nails too.

Of course, DS needed to use the bathroom (he has the worst timing EVER). So I sat my dad & sister down in the lobby and they watched over DD while I found the nearest bathroom for DS and waited outside. Literally about 10 seconds after he entered the men's bathroom our buzzer went off. My kid takes FOREVER in the bathroom... always. I knew this was going to be a wait. I was worried they would give our table to someone else. After what felt like an eternity (I think it was around 10 minutes), DS emerged from the bathroom and we booked it to Cape May.

We were seated at a half booth/half chairs table which was nice. I sat in between the kids knowing they would need help with peeling shrimp and cracking crab legs.



This buffet is fantastic! This was my second time coming here for dinner (been once for breakfast). I really love it. I'm a big seafood fanatic. I took it easy at 50's Prime Time in anticipation for this meal. My dad & sister were not ready for it by any means. I think the reality of DxDP was finally setting in.

My sister did not eat any crab legs. She confessed to me that she didn't know how to crack them! I couldn't believe she has never had them before... dad had a few. He enjoyed the mussels/clams? (not sure on the difference) the most.





I had two plates and finished them both off. I probably could've went for a third but I felt bad with my dad & sister there looking like they were ready to burst. We got some desserts...





I've learned to take cookies from the buffet for the next day. They came in handy for a quick (unhealthy) breakfast the following morning.

The crab legs were good, they're not ginormous by any means but they had plenty of meat in them and tasted really good. I enjoyed the salmon and the mac & cheese. I was disappointed with the asparagus. It just didn't taste good to me. The fried shrimp was very good and so was the boiled shrimp. They were HUGE. I could've ate a few plates of them myself.

Out of the desserts, the strawberry shortcake was my favorite.

Our waitress was fantastic... she kept up on drinks and kept us happy.

I give this place a 9/10. I will return for sure... hopefully sooner than later. It's well worth a credit on the dining plan.

Our check would have been $168.22.

 

[Dislover1991]

Cape May sounds good for dinner!

I have 2 questions if you don't mind- where are the oreo bon bons?

And also, are there plenty of grilled items on the menu? Me and my mom can't handle fried foods so we don't want to arrive to find all fried food.

Thanks

 

[budafam]

Cape May sounds good for dinner!

I have 2 questions if you don't mind- where are the oreo bon bons?

And also, are there plenty of grilled items on the menu? Me and my mom can't handle fried foods so we don't want to arrive to find all fried food.

Thanks

It is GREAT for dinner.

If I'm not mistaken, I think they did away with the oreo bon-bons... I'm not a huge chocolate fan so I probably wouldn't have picked one up had I seen it but I'm almost positive they were not there

The only fried item was the shrimp (and they had the regular shrimp as well). There was so much to pick from... literally 3 sides of that buffet had different items. Lots of pasta/other types of salads, cheese, smoked salmon, baked salmon, corn on the cob, pizza, etc.

Hope that helps

 

[athumann]

enjoying your reviews so far and looking forward to more!

 

[farrahalex76]

Cape May sounds good for dinner! I have 2 questions if you don't mind- where are the oreo bon bons? And also, are there plenty of grilled items on the menu? Me and my mom can't handle fried foods so we don't want to arrive to find all fried food. Thanks

I've heard you can the Oreo Bon Bons at the BC marketplace. They come in a container like the zebra domes at the Mara.

Great reviews can't wait to read more!

 

[budafam]

This was our Epcot day. We were skipping breakfast (enjoying the cookies from Cape May the previous night) and heading straight to the park. The kids got a bag of craisins to share from the Land's food court and we visited Club Cool for some refreshments.



We had a 12:20 reservation at Biergarten. We hit up the caramel shop to use up a snack credit...



We got a small bag of caramel corn to take home (and was that stuff ever yummy).

 

[budafam]

As I said we had a 12:20 ADR. They would not let us check in until 15 minutes prior (I found this to be the norm with inside park restaurants). We sat and waited the 10 minutes to check in. Then we were given a buzzer and it took another 10 minutes for that to go off. They could really use a little more seating in that area.



I had eaten here once before with my son in October 2011. Being from Wisconsin (and of German decent), I knew my dad would enjoy this place. We were seated on the top tier all the way to the left of the stage. It was nice being so out of the way and we could see everything that was going on.



Our drink orders were taken and we were off. The buffet was just as I remembered it. There were some cold salads to choose from, sausages, pretzel rolls, potato salads (warm and cold)...



I discovered a wonderful new "must do" food for myself at this buffet, beer cheese soup. It was so cheesy and so beery... just YUM!



I wish I could've eaten more of it. As soon as I got home, I looked up the recipe and made this soup... it turned out pretty close and tasted so good. I remembered from the last time that there was a really good berry dessert. I had to have some of that.



I want to say that was a Bavarian Cheesecake next to it but I could be wrong...



That was a sort of custard... the berry compote had a vanilla sauce that you could add to the top of the glass. Yum!!!

As we were finishing up, the music started.



This was a really nice meal. The tables are big so in the middle of our meal another couple was seated next to us. They seemed very uncomfortable and even asked to get a separate table. The waitress had to explain about how they seat people at these tables. Other than that, everything was great. The food was yummy and the atmosphere is just fantastic. It kind of reminded me of Sci-Fi with the darkness and "outdoor" look.

I gave this place a 7/10. The service was fantastic... she refilled our cups several times and cleared plates quickly.

Our bill would've came to $112.84. Well worth it for such great food.

 

[ses1230]

50s looks really good, we haven't done that one yet.

Did anyone got pot roast at LTT lunch? I'm curious to see how it compares to 50's.

 

[vettegirl]

Love Biergarten and your soup pics look delicious!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[budafam]

50s looks really good, we haven't done that one yet.

Did anyone got pot roast at LTT lunch? I'm curious to see how it compares to 50's.

Yes we all got the pot roast at LTT. I honestly think it's the same stuff as 50's.

 

[Samandmom]

Biergarten looks really nice.

 

[mcbj]

Enjoying your review! We have ADRs at 50s Prime Time and Cape May for our June trip!

 

[budafam]

Once we got halfway around WS, we were planning to take the 2nd boat back to Future World. Well, big surprise for us... the boat was not in operation so I had to break the news to dad that he needed to finish the whole thing... we sat down for a break while I went and got myself a little refreshment...



I had the orange last time and the lemon was just SO much better. I finished this in record time and felt pretty good about that walk ahead of us.

When we got just past Canada I had everyone sit down again while me and DS ran for refreshments. We got everyone big sodas (snack credits) and I ordered some pineapple fritters. I had no idea what these would be but I love pineapple so I figured they couldn't be bad.



They were gross. They were so hot when we got them, I couldn't eat them for about 10 minutes and once I did, I ended up throwing the majority in the garbage. Yuck. They tasted burned and just yucky. Never again.

We finished our walk and ended up at Spaceship Earth which we needed to ride yet so we did that and then left the park to go back to the resort for awhile.

My original plans had us at Epcot till about 5 and then hopping on the monorail to get to California Grill for dinner that night but we would not have made it without a break in that day. Especially after walking 15 miles (thanks to my pedometer). DS got a lollipop back at the resort gift shop for a snack...

 

[SilentK]

I've just read through your reviews. Looking forward to more. Myself and DH were there 2 -12 Dec, also on deluxe dining. I took pics of everything so I may do a dining report at some point.

 

[budafam]

I've just read through your reviews. Looking forward to more. Myself and DH were there 2 -12 Dec, also on deluxe dining. I took pics of everything so I may do a dining report at some point.

Oh yes! Please do one I love reading them... honestly it probably accounts for 50% of why I love Disney so much.

 

[budafam]

We had a 7:25pm ADR for California Grill. We left our resort with plenty of time to spare.. took our time and hopped on the monorail to get to the Contemporary. We were able to check in at 7pm. I requested a table with a view *if possible*. We would gladly wait extra for one since we had so much time and nothing else to do. I love the quietness of the entire floor waiting area for Cali Grill.

The seating is also VERY comfortable.



The kids were full of energy so I gave my dad the buzzer and went to go for a walk with DS to tire him out a bit. DD came running over to us about 2 minutes later saying that the buzzer was going off. Time to go!

We were put into a booth closer to the patio door. We had a great view from there.



DS asked our waitress if they had coloring books... she returned with these:



How cool is that?! As neat as I thought they were, they entertained the kids for about 5 minutes and then they were thrown to the side... our bread was brought to the table and the kids started to chow down. My sister raved over the bread and how fresh it tasted. I thought it was a bit hard. I'm not a fan of hard, chewy bread. The butter was fantastic though.



We ordered our food. Since my first time at Cali Grill over a year ago I had been dreaming of the Spicy Kazan Roll... I could not WAIT to get it again. To my surprise, my sister ordered the same thing I did. After the waitress left the table my sister asked what it was that she just ordered... she literally had no idea that she just ordered sushi. Once I told her, she made a funny face and said that I could have the whole thing to take back to the resort. lol... I wasn't about to argue! More sushi for me! Yay!

Dad ordered the Duck in all its Glory - House-made Sausage, Rillettes, Prosciutto, Duck Liver Pate, Cranberry Compote $17.00



I thought he would really enjoy this type of dish. He eats weird stuff like head cheese, saultz (sp?), beef tongue, etc. The majority of the stuff he said was really different. It wasn't that big of a hit unfortunately. He still ate the majority of it so it couldn't have been that bad.

I got my Spicy Kazan Roll - crab, shrimp, scallops, tuna and fireball sauce $26.00 x2 of course...



It seemed much smaller than the last time I ordered it but I had two, so it was okay. I absolutely loved this again. My sister refused to even try a bite... I had my dad take a taste and he loved it. He never had sushi before either.

DD got lettuce wraps:



Of course she would not touch them... I'm not sure of many kids who would. I tried one and thought it was great but not for a kid...

DS got a salad.. nothing special. He liked it.

Entrees...

My sister once again followed in my footsteps and ordered what I got.. the Oak-fired Filet of Beef - Heirloom Tomato Risotto, Marinted Baby Vine Tomatoes, Petite Basil, Tomato Butter $49.00. I had the steak last time I was here but it had a bbq sauce on it and I didn't care for it. I thought this sounded a lot better so I tried it again.



It was awesome. I finished every single bite. Loved it. My sister actually ate the majority of hers as well.

My dad got the Bison.. it's new to the menu (forgot to take a pic so I can't remember the exact price) but he wanted to try something "different".. at least someone was being adventurous!



He really liked this. He said it had a sweeter flavor to the meat. I tried it and LOVED it. I could've ate all of that as well. Yum!

DS got a steak that came with sweet potatoes and carrots. His steak was the best I've ever tasted on property at Disney. It could be cut with a spoon. Yum! He ate about half and took the rest back to the resort.



DD ordered the cheese pizza. She ate a good portion of it so it couldn't have tasted too weird. I'm glad she ordered it so now I know we could take my DH there (who has a serious picky eater issue and primarily lives on cheese pizzas).



I knew at this moment that there's no way we were going to make it until the fireworks at 9:30. I was a little disappointed but figured we could catch them on our way back to the bus somehow if we timed it right.

DS got a virgin strawberry daiquiri while we were eating and he just loved it. He tried to order it every other place we went for the whole trip and was only successful another time or two.



I joked with my dad that he should buy us the $1200 bottle of wine that was on the menu... haha. Not happening.

Dessert time. The kids both got the rice crispy sushi. They loved it.



Dad and I ordered the Sundae Sampler - Unique and playful Sundaes with a nostalgic twist: Caramel Corn, Coke Float, and Strawberry and Basil $12.00. This was just the cutest dessert EVER. I loved it and ate every bite. Dad really enjoyed it too. I don't think he's ever had anything so fancy in his life.



We tried to figure out what the sauce was in the caramel jar.. it was so smooth and almost like a melted custard.



The mini Coke float was just adorable. I wish I could've taken the bottle home. It was too cute!



The strawberry was neat with the glitter effect. The Strawberry & Basil almost tasted like a strawberry shortcake. It was great!



My sister got the Chocolate Pudding Cake - Luscious Chocolate Cake with Nutella Filling, Meringue Kisses, and Mint Chantilly $13.00



Sorry the picture is not great... my excuse is that I was in a food coma at this point. She gave me one of the homemade kisses and it melted in my mouth. Very good... I'm not a huge chocolate fan but she said it was amazing.

I had to snap a quick pic of that lovely wine display.



Our bill came to $330.34.

I heard such awful reviews about California Grill since it reopened. None of them scared me enough to cancel our reservation. I'm so glad we had this experience. It was a great meal, great view and wonderful service. It could not have went any better. I give this a 10/10 and can't wait to return hopefully on our next trip... gotta have my sushi!

On our way back down in the elevator we were riding with a very hoity toity type looking man who did not like to chit chat. The elevator operator was being very friendly and we enjoyed talking with her. He didn't look like he was having a great night.

We took the monorail back to MK and took a seat on the benches right outside the gates. We enjoyed Holiday Wishes and were first to get to the buses before the rush. It just made me that much more excited for our party
on Sunday.