Dining Adventures with Character, March 8-14

[jenseib]

Hi all! I’m about to start my dining report!

I’ve been slacking and mostly working on my trip report thus far. So from now on I’ll be working on both.

If you are interested in reading my trip report here is the link.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2120556

We went to Disney World March 8-14 2009.

I will try to update the page number next to the restaurant as much has I can, so those looking for one particular place can find it easier.

The cast
Me ~ Jen
DH~ Skip
DD~ Claire (who is 4)

We did a lot of character meals this trip, so those looking for those kinds of reviews are in for a treat. I must say some days I was better at taking pictures than others. Or I would forget till we had already dived in. LOL!

Here is where we ate

Toledo Airport food counter ~ pg 1,
Pop Century food Court ~ pg's 1,3,4,10,11 and 13
Cinderella’s Royal Table~ pg's 1,2 and 4
1900 Park Fare~ pg's 3 & 4
Backlot Express~pg 5
Hoop Dee Doo Review ~pg 's 5 and 6
Cape May~pg 7
Wonderland Tea Party (for Claire) ~ pg 8
Pizzafari~ pg 10
Yorkshire County Fish Shop~pg 11
Akershus~ pgs 11 and 12
Crystal Palace~ pg 14
Earl of Sandwich~ pg 15
Goofys Candy Store~ pg 15

We were on the dining plan. Unfortunately I didn’t catch all the prices to break it down for you, but I do know we made out and the plan was worth it for us. This was our third trip using the plan and we really enjoy it.

On to the report!

 

[jenseib]

Our first “food” adventure was while waiting in Toledo airport for our flight. Nothing special here, but I thought I’d mention it.
Claire and I went up to get something while Skip took a nap. LOL!

We had an 11:40 flight out. So we had been up fairly early and were going to miss lunch time. I picked out a cinnamon roll. For some reason, I always love to get these at airports. LOL! Now this was nothing fancy and tasted just OK, but it did the trick for me. Claire picked out a chocolate muffin that looked really good. She then gave it to DH. LOL! She never even tried it. DH said it was good too. Claire end up eating a “healthy” (NOT) bag of chips we had packed along.

Fast Forward to the afternoon……
We arrived at Pop Century hungry. Claire was ready for a swim immediately, so I got her in and DH went up to the food court and got some nuggets and fries. (I didn’t get a picture)
He said they were good, your average nugget and fries.

I was hungry too, but I decided a hot fudge sundae sounded way better than real food! LOL!!!
I again didn’t get a picture of this. The ice-cream was melting fast, and I was too hungry to go find my camera. I must say it was REALLY good though.
Claire popped out of the pool to take a bite and went right back in. Just as I was finishing my last scrape the bottom of the bowl bite, she came out again for more. I told her that I could get her on or a cone. She chose a cone.
I got her rainbow sherbert. She loves rainbow. It was melting fast too, and I had to lick it to keep it from dripping, so I know this was tasty as well!

After the swim we headed to MK. One of the first things DH did was get some popcorn. I told him that the small bucket would be on the plan, but he wanted the big one!
Claire kind of became the “owner” of the popcorn real fast. She did eat it off and on through out the evening.

The popcorn was your basic popcorn, but it always one of DH’s favorite things to get.

Next dining adventure…Cinderella’s Royal Table dinner

 

[MiNniEDrEameR]

I'm in!!!

 

[lizet313]

Im in can't wait to hear more.

 

[jenseib]

Welcome!

For those who are also reading my trip report, some of this is going to be some of the same pictures, since parts are going to be copied right from that...BUT I am going to add food pics as well and more of my thoguhts about the food!

 

[jenseib]

I was super excited about eating in the castle at CRT. As you all know this is a really hard place to get into, and it books up fast, MONTHS ahead of time. We didn’t book our trip till Jan 26th. I had called that day and there was no opening.
This day was also not scheduled to be an Extra Magical Hour day. Originally it was scheduled for HS. But with the princess half marathon going on, they switched it up and had the party for the competitors and their families at HS and made MK have the EMH’s…which I was very happy about.

On a whim, on Feb 21 I called to see since the hours were extended ,if they would have any openings….and they DID! 9:35 PM was the only time, but since I knew we would be at the park late, it was a perfect time for us. Since I had already made all our ADR’s for the dining plan, we paid out of pocket for this one.

Something about eating in the castle was just so exciting for me. I have heard mixed reviews about it, but I wanted to at least have the experience once in my life, and for Claire to as well.

So….we walked over to the Castle after Splash Mountain.

We went to the check in desk and had no problems getting checked in, but the people in front of seemed to be having problems…not sure what that was about?

We then walked INTO the castle. How exciting!

I made Claire stand next to this knight. LOL!

We then got in line to “meet” Cinderella in her Royal Castle. While waiting I started randomly shooting pictures of the area.

 

[jenseib]

We finally make it up to Cinderella. The line wasn’t too long though.
Cinderella took Claire’s hand and walked her to the chair.

I had my camera set on manual and for some reason shot some REALLY crappy pictures before I realized my settings were bad. I don’t like to use flash that much, but since it was dark in there I ended up doing some with it. Thank goodness the photographer got some great shots…..which are on my photopass CD, and I will post once it comes.

I also realized after seeing the pictures later on, that I never took her jean jacket off. LOL!

Cinderella signed Claire’s book and they talked. We were last in line, so she kind of took a little time with her.

After that we sat down and waited to be called upstairs.
Cinderella must’ve been waiting for another family because she didn’t leave and she got up and kind of roamed.

Another family came in and she went to talk to the little girl and get pictures taken.

After that she roamed again…and then a wonderful thing happened. She came and sat next to Claire and talked to her for AT LEAST 5 minutes. Claire was in heaven and just talking away with her. It was like they were best friends. It was very special.

Then another family came in and Cinderella had to go greet them. Look at the little smirk on Claire’s face. LOL!

 

[milmore104]

Great so far. I'm in...

 

[jenseib]

Now for dinner at…..

We got seated. Claire checked out her menu, which you could color on as well.

Our waiter came out and introduced himself (I think it was Gustuvo?). He was funny and he opened up his coat to reveal a bunch of toy swords. He gave one to DH and I could see Claire eyeing quickly. Then he acknowledged my birthday and gave me a magic wand. Again Claire was eyeing. LOL! He then gave Claire a magic wand and she was happy.

Here is the menu, a crappy picture again.

 

[jenseib]

I ordered the corn and crab chowder for my appetizer, and the Roast Prime Rib of Beef with grilled asparagus, roasted fingerling potatoes and a cabernet sauce.

Claire ordered the chicken noodle soup for her appetizer and the hotdog with green beans.

Skip ordered the BLT salad for his appetizer and Pork Chop with bacon and Mushroom Ragout, and Yukon Gold Smashed Potatoes finished with a sweet Chipolte glaze.

Skip and Claire got chocolate milk to drink (I think) and I got a diet coke (no ice). We also made our dessert selections then and Skip and I both ordered the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle - a single layer of chocolate cake stuffed with cream cheese topped with Cremé Chantilly and finished with Cremé Anglaise Sauce. Claire ordered the Royal Sundae.
We also got some rolls that were great. Claire loves bread, so she chowed down on these right away.

If you’ve been following along, Claire’s diet was pretty much CRAP this day. LOL! So I wanted to be sure she got something in her tummy that wasn’t pure crap. Now a hotdog isn’t the best meal, but this was really her first meal of any sorts that might have some nutritional value for the day. LOL!
After ordering our waiter came back with the appetizers. He told us that he told the Fairy Godmother that I was celebrating my birthday and she would acknowledge me. LOL! He also brought back a birthday card signed by Belle, Snow White and Cinderella. (I assume the other 2 princesses are there in the daytime.)

He said that he put in an order for a cake for me too. He said this several times, but he never did bring it. I think he forgot towards the end, but that was OK, because there was no way we would have ever been able to eat it, and to lug it around would’ve been a pain too. (even though it is just a small thing)

Claire’s soup had carrots and celery in it, so I had to pick all that out for her. She won’t eat it if one of those accidentally slip in her mouth.

My chowder was awesome. I wish I knew how to make this. It was really tasty. DH had wrinkled his nose at it, thinking it sounded gross, but it was so good!

Skip’s BLT salad actually didn’t come out with ours. It took longer to get, and then we laughed when he did get it. It was like half a head of lettuce..uncut… with all the BLT ingredients around it. He did say it was really good though, But he grumbled about cutting up his own lettuce. LOL!
It’s a really bad picture…sorry!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Great so far! DH and I have never dined in the castle and I was thinking of adding it in for our Oct trip

 

[eventamy]

I agree, great so far!
We've eaten in the castle twice so far, dinner and lunch! We have loved it both times!

 

[TigerKat]

Signing on!

 

[jenseib]

About the same time the appetizers came out, the fairy godmother, Susie and Perla came out to do the show. (I don’t know which mouse is which. LOL)

Claire was pretty much turned around in her seat watching.

They sang and flew around the room. The 2 mice stopped by for a picture, but they were so fast I could barely get my camera up and they were gone.

Fairy Godmother was moving even faster, so it was really hard to get a picture of her, and she never stopped at the table. She just kept singing and running around. She did acknowledge my birthday and pointed at me. I think Claire was a little jealous of that, because she gave me an evil eye!.

Claire basically picked at her soup. She was too interested in the show. She did eat a little though. When the show got over, she kept asking when they would be out again. I told her I don’t think they will, because I think it was the last one of the night. She said maybe if she ate, they would come out again…AH, sure, if that gets you to eat.

Then her hot dog came out and she said she wasn’t hungry. I told her if she didn’t eat it, there would be no more rides, so she ate it, but not the green beans.

Skip’s Pork chop

Skip ate every last bite and said it was good. It’s hard to tell how much he likes stuff because he doesn’t do much commenting unless he really doesn’t like it. He also finished off Claire’s green beans. LOL

My Prime rib

The prime rib was good. I’m sure I had better, but it was still very good. The asparagus was good, but crunchy. That seems to be the norm at most restaurants with steamed veggies. They are always a little too crispy for me. I’ll eat it and enjoy them, but I do prefer my steamed veggies steamed a little longer so they are a bit softer. The potatoes were just OK. Kind of dry. Not gross or bad, but not my favorite either.

 

[jenseib]

Finally the best part came. DESSERT!

I have to say it was just wonderful.

Claire’s sundae came with a chocolate crown on it. She basically dipped the crown in the ice-cream and then licked it off the crown. When she had enough of the ice-cream, she ate the crown. She was a bit chocolaty after that. Thanks goodness I brought along wipes. I think she did then eat some of the ice-cream with her spoon, but only about half, and Skip finished it off. LOL!

[/COLOR]

Skip and I had the Chocolate Buckle. It was heavenly. I remember stating that I could eat this every day for every meal and DH said he could too, so he must’ve liked it! LOL! I totally recommend this to anyone and everyone.

All in all we were happy with the food, and loved the experience. I would some day like to do lunch or breakfast, but now that I’ve had my chance in the castle, I’ve settled down some. LOL!

 

[natalielongstaff]

Wow ! what amazing pictures, the reviews aren't bad either

 

[jenseib]

During the dinner they brought out our picture of Claire with Cinderella. It was very cute.

The cover

Sadly, sometime during that evening I must’ve had something leak in my bag and the bottomed corner of the folder got wet and crinkled up. The pictures were fine, but it made me mad that I somehow did this.

I also took various pictures of the inside of the restaurant. None came out all that great. I wish I had brought my SLR to the dinner!

We didn’t have a window seat, but the place was clearing out, so I walked over to the window and took this picture of the view. How pretty is that?

These pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice. It was beautiful!

As we were leaving, I tried to take a shot of Claire and Skip (who were in the lobby) from the spiral steps. Didn’t come out all that great either. LOL!

When we walked outside, I had to take pictures of where we just were. LOL! Those lighted windows are where we just ate!

And then I had to take a few of the mosaics in the walkway through the castle.

And that’s the end of our eating adventure for our first day!

 

[jenseib]

Wow ! what amazing pictures, the reviews aren't bad either

Thanks!

 

[BreTyPres87]

I'm in!! Your daughter looked so happy at that dinner and it was only the first day I can only imagine what kinda fun overload she had
can't wait to read more

 

[momofoneplustwinz]

I love all your reports! They are all filled with such great information!!