I know its late. But better late than never
Cast
Me (DH) 31, DW (31/32), DD (2)
Tuesday 12/3
Dinner Chef Mickeys
Our new traditional first night dinner. We checked in at 5:30 for our PS, but werent seated until around 6:00. We sat in the booth next to the one we sat in the previous year. Some of the food was good for a buffet (better than I recalled from last year). Specifically we liked a citrus chicken, the carved turkey, the parmesan potatoes, and some fruity dessert tart thing that was really good. We were there long enough for all the characters to visit twice. Good enough that well go back again.
Wednesday 12/4 (DWs b-day)
Breakfast 1900 Park Fare
This is our favorite spot for breakfast - the made to order omelets are great. The rest of the food is typical breakfast buffet (outside of the bread pudding and strawberry soup which are just okay for us but others love). For some reason the donut holes really struck both DW and I as being really good something as simple as that. DD liked seeing Pooh and Eeyore, but was pretty afraid of Alice and the Mad Hatter. Since it was DWs birthday, a server made a big announcement of the occasion and led the restaurant in Happy Birthday. She also brought out a cupcake with candle. Another good experience, so Im sure well go back our next trip.
Lunch room (sort of)
I ordered a birthday cake for DW from the GF bakery. It was a decorated Mickey face/head white cake with a cream filling. It was very well presented and tasted good too.
Dinner Gasparilla Grill pizza
We used to really like GGs pizza. But we can only describe the new individual pizzas as edible. They were not that good. In the future if we need something fast to eat at the hotel, well try a sandwich or something from GG instead.
Thursday 12/5
Breakfast Donalds Breakfastasaurus
We were really looking forward to Donalds because we really liked it the previous year. This year was okay, but not as good. Last year we were there for the first seating. DD sleeps in a little later now, so we were there around 9:30 and the restaurant felt really busy and packed. And the food went from being really good to just okay. They do have a person to make omelets, but she seemed a little put off by it. And the Krispy Kreme donuts there was only a couple different kinds available and they didnt really resemble fresh ones. The characters were okay but it just seemed too hectic here. Well probably take a year off on Donalds our next trip and hit another spot instead.
Ice Cream Social Garden Grill
We had mixed feelings about the Ice Cream Social. We didnt care for the setup of the restaurant. We were seated on the outer rim and felt really cramped. Sitting on the outside rim you cant really see anything either. It was just strange feeling for us. We thought the ice cream was great (it gets mixed reviews on the boards). The ice cream tasted fresh and you could see the pieces of the vanilla beans in the ice cream. We didnt really see any characters. They took a long time to come by (which we didnt understand because there was hardly anyone there). And DD was tired and had a fit midway into things. Granted, the ice cream wasnt a $7 sundae. But everything at WDW is more expensive. We would probably return for the ice cream at that price, and maybe get the character visit for an added bonus.
Dinner
We tried eating at Portobello. But when we sat down DD was still not a happy camper. So we opted to leave instead of having her fussy through a $70 dinner. I dont know if we will return to Portobello or not. We were really looking forward to trying it. But inside, the place seemed really crowded and our server really turned us off in the two minutes we were there. She showed her irritation when we passed on wine (neither of us drink, but we do tip well for good service) and said we would just have water. Then she named a few bottled waters, and DW said something to the nature of whatever comes out of the tap is fine. The server had quite a scowl then and walked away. She returned a couple minutes later with the water and we told her we were leaving because DD was cranky. We thought the server would be happy that we were leaving since we werent going to run up a big alcohol tab. But she had another unhappy look and just walked off without saying anything to us. We hope this is isolated. The people up front were very nice.
Friday 12/6
Breakfast
DD didnt wake up until 9:45. So no Kona for us this morning.
Lunch Sci Fi at MGM
We had an 11:00 at Sci Fi in MGM. We thought this restaurant was set up and themed really well. The cars and movie screen is neat. We had basics splitting a cheeseburger, fries, and onion rings. They were okay not bad and not outstanding. We ordered the kids pasta for DD. The sauce on the pasta was gross. I dont know how she ate it. Sci Fi was neat for an experience, but not a must-do for us. Well probably return sometime in the future for the theming, but not next trip.
Dinner Cape May Clam Bake
This was our first time eating at Cape May. We had sat through the 5:00 freezing Candlelight Processional before a 6:10 PS at Cape May. We thought this was the best dinner buffet we had ever had. They had a nice variety of hot food both seafood and non-seafood. The childrens buffet was pretty poor though. The best part was the dessert selection - unbelievable. There must have been at least 10 different dessert offerings and they were all good too. The best was an oreo cookie topped with a chocolate mousse, and then dusted with chocolate dust. It was sooooo good. I think I had 6 or 7 of them. We will definitely return to Cape May.
Saturday 12/7
Breakfast
DD woke up at 4:45 and played around until 7:30 when she fell back asleep until 9:30. So another morning we didnt make it to Kona.
Lunch Rainforest Café at DTD
We didnt have lunch plans this day it was slated for shopping with maybe a snack at the panty. But since we didnt eat breakfast, we were hungry for lunch. Our wait at the main lunch time (12:30ish) was under 10 minutes. DW and I split the Planet Earth Pasta (which I had just had a month earlier at the RFC at DLand and loved it) and we ordered the childs pizza for DD. The pasta was delicious and the pizza wasnt bad (better than the cardboard at GG). We split an entrée so we could have dessert a volcano. I thought this was one of the best desserts Ive had. It is mounds of chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, caramel (I think), and whipped topping. The dessert is huge probably normally feeds 4. But we finished it off just the two of us (I can really put away chocolate desserts). The volcano was pretty expensive though I think it was $12 or $13. We had a good meal and will visit RFC again. It probably isnt a must-do, but we wouldnt have any hesitations eating here again.
Sunday 12/8
Breakfast
DD didnt sleep in as late, but we were wanting to get some early MK in. So we slipped Chef Mickeys today.
Lunch Cosmic Rays
DW and I split a cheesesteak sandwich and fries. The food was okay, but not very hot. And the order process took quite a while. They only have a few items available. I wouldnt think they would wait to kill the cow each time someone ordered a sandwich. It was food though and filled our stomach. I much preferred Pecos Bills for counter service (from our last years trip). I wouldnt be in hurry for Cosmic Rays again.
Dinner Yachtsman Steakhouse
We checked in about 6:20 for our 7:00 PS, and waited around 20 minutes before seating (we walked around the grounds during this time and checked out the pool area since we had never seen it). DW and I both had the filet, DW had a smashed potato side (that was a mixture of potatoes included sweet) and I had a baked potato. DD had the pasta, which was much better than the pasta at Sci Fi. We both liked our steaks (good cuts of meat), DW was especially happy with it. We also enjoyed an onion roll they served. We had a really good server that adjusted the meal since we were dining with a tempermental 2 year old. We werent interested in a fine dining experience just good food. She was able to make it to where our meal was finished in 40 minutes before DD got anxious and upset about sitting for too long. We will return to Yachtsman not a must do, but a good one for us.
Monday 12/9
Breakfast Kona Cafe
We finally made it over to Kona (this was our first time trying it after reading such good things). Kona seemed pretty unorganized we had a 25 minute wait to be seated. We ordered a Tonga Toast and Big Kahuna (pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham). We were using some breakfast vouchers we received with our park tickets, so we also got a muffin and juice (DW tried a mixed juice with 3 different kinds of juice and really liked it). For all the hype, we didnt care for the Tonga Toast. It was edible, but it just didnt strike us the right way. We thought the rest of the food was good though and wish we would have ordered another Big Kahuna instead (the regular French toast was better than the Tonga for us). Were glad we tried Kona, but we probably wont return.
Dinner Park Fare
We werent really planning on going to PF for dinner this trip. The past couple of times we went for dinner the food wasnt too great (not to be confused with the breakfast). But it had been pouring rain all day and DD hadnt gotten to do much. So we asked her if she wanted to eat with her buddies and she said yes. We waited about 15 minutes to be seated (PF is always busy). We were in shock with how good the food was. It seemed like everything we tried was good the marinara sauce, sausage & peppers, potatoes, cod, pork even the childrens items of the hot dogs and burgers were good. And the desserts were climbing their way back up in quality too with good brownies, fudge, chocolate cake, apple cobbler (and the bread pudding and strawberry soup that dont do much for us). The characters all made it by a couple of times too. This surpassed our Cape May dinner and ranked as our best dinner buffet of all time. We were very disappointed to see that Cinderall was replacing Pooh and friends when we returned. None of us are much fans of the princesses we prefer Pooh. But the increased quality of the food might make us return anyway.
Tuesday 12/10
Breakfast
DD slept in a little. And since this was our last day, we didnt really want to waste any MK time. So we passed on Tonys breakfast and hit the rides.
Lunch (if you can call it lunch)
I had a real ice cream sandwich from the Main Street Bakery real because they use fresh chocolate chip cookies and scoop their own ice cream. It is so good to have the sandwich with warm cookies. Then on our way out of the park around 1:00 I had a chocolate ice cream cone from the ice cream parlor and DW got an apple charlotte from the bakery (which she really liked).
We had other snacks mixed in, but nothing major that I can recall.
Any questions - just ask.
Cast
Me (DH) 31, DW (31/32), DD (2)
Tuesday 12/3
Dinner Chef Mickeys
Our new traditional first night dinner. We checked in at 5:30 for our PS, but werent seated until around 6:00. We sat in the booth next to the one we sat in the previous year. Some of the food was good for a buffet (better than I recalled from last year). Specifically we liked a citrus chicken, the carved turkey, the parmesan potatoes, and some fruity dessert tart thing that was really good. We were there long enough for all the characters to visit twice. Good enough that well go back again.
Wednesday 12/4 (DWs b-day)
Breakfast 1900 Park Fare
This is our favorite spot for breakfast - the made to order omelets are great. The rest of the food is typical breakfast buffet (outside of the bread pudding and strawberry soup which are just okay for us but others love). For some reason the donut holes really struck both DW and I as being really good something as simple as that. DD liked seeing Pooh and Eeyore, but was pretty afraid of Alice and the Mad Hatter. Since it was DWs birthday, a server made a big announcement of the occasion and led the restaurant in Happy Birthday. She also brought out a cupcake with candle. Another good experience, so Im sure well go back our next trip.
Lunch room (sort of)
I ordered a birthday cake for DW from the GF bakery. It was a decorated Mickey face/head white cake with a cream filling. It was very well presented and tasted good too.
Dinner Gasparilla Grill pizza
We used to really like GGs pizza. But we can only describe the new individual pizzas as edible. They were not that good. In the future if we need something fast to eat at the hotel, well try a sandwich or something from GG instead.
Thursday 12/5
Breakfast Donalds Breakfastasaurus
We were really looking forward to Donalds because we really liked it the previous year. This year was okay, but not as good. Last year we were there for the first seating. DD sleeps in a little later now, so we were there around 9:30 and the restaurant felt really busy and packed. And the food went from being really good to just okay. They do have a person to make omelets, but she seemed a little put off by it. And the Krispy Kreme donuts there was only a couple different kinds available and they didnt really resemble fresh ones. The characters were okay but it just seemed too hectic here. Well probably take a year off on Donalds our next trip and hit another spot instead.
Ice Cream Social Garden Grill
We had mixed feelings about the Ice Cream Social. We didnt care for the setup of the restaurant. We were seated on the outer rim and felt really cramped. Sitting on the outside rim you cant really see anything either. It was just strange feeling for us. We thought the ice cream was great (it gets mixed reviews on the boards). The ice cream tasted fresh and you could see the pieces of the vanilla beans in the ice cream. We didnt really see any characters. They took a long time to come by (which we didnt understand because there was hardly anyone there). And DD was tired and had a fit midway into things. Granted, the ice cream wasnt a $7 sundae. But everything at WDW is more expensive. We would probably return for the ice cream at that price, and maybe get the character visit for an added bonus.
Dinner
We tried eating at Portobello. But when we sat down DD was still not a happy camper. So we opted to leave instead of having her fussy through a $70 dinner. I dont know if we will return to Portobello or not. We were really looking forward to trying it. But inside, the place seemed really crowded and our server really turned us off in the two minutes we were there. She showed her irritation when we passed on wine (neither of us drink, but we do tip well for good service) and said we would just have water. Then she named a few bottled waters, and DW said something to the nature of whatever comes out of the tap is fine. The server had quite a scowl then and walked away. She returned a couple minutes later with the water and we told her we were leaving because DD was cranky. We thought the server would be happy that we were leaving since we werent going to run up a big alcohol tab. But she had another unhappy look and just walked off without saying anything to us. We hope this is isolated. The people up front were very nice.
Friday 12/6
Breakfast
DD didnt wake up until 9:45. So no Kona for us this morning.
Lunch Sci Fi at MGM
We had an 11:00 at Sci Fi in MGM. We thought this restaurant was set up and themed really well. The cars and movie screen is neat. We had basics splitting a cheeseburger, fries, and onion rings. They were okay not bad and not outstanding. We ordered the kids pasta for DD. The sauce on the pasta was gross. I dont know how she ate it. Sci Fi was neat for an experience, but not a must-do for us. Well probably return sometime in the future for the theming, but not next trip.
Dinner Cape May Clam Bake
This was our first time eating at Cape May. We had sat through the 5:00 freezing Candlelight Processional before a 6:10 PS at Cape May. We thought this was the best dinner buffet we had ever had. They had a nice variety of hot food both seafood and non-seafood. The childrens buffet was pretty poor though. The best part was the dessert selection - unbelievable. There must have been at least 10 different dessert offerings and they were all good too. The best was an oreo cookie topped with a chocolate mousse, and then dusted with chocolate dust. It was sooooo good. I think I had 6 or 7 of them. We will definitely return to Cape May.
Saturday 12/7
Breakfast
DD woke up at 4:45 and played around until 7:30 when she fell back asleep until 9:30. So another morning we didnt make it to Kona.
Lunch Rainforest Café at DTD
We didnt have lunch plans this day it was slated for shopping with maybe a snack at the panty. But since we didnt eat breakfast, we were hungry for lunch. Our wait at the main lunch time (12:30ish) was under 10 minutes. DW and I split the Planet Earth Pasta (which I had just had a month earlier at the RFC at DLand and loved it) and we ordered the childs pizza for DD. The pasta was delicious and the pizza wasnt bad (better than the cardboard at GG). We split an entrée so we could have dessert a volcano. I thought this was one of the best desserts Ive had. It is mounds of chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, caramel (I think), and whipped topping. The dessert is huge probably normally feeds 4. But we finished it off just the two of us (I can really put away chocolate desserts). The volcano was pretty expensive though I think it was $12 or $13. We had a good meal and will visit RFC again. It probably isnt a must-do, but we wouldnt have any hesitations eating here again.
Sunday 12/8
Breakfast
DD didnt sleep in as late, but we were wanting to get some early MK in. So we slipped Chef Mickeys today.
Lunch Cosmic Rays
DW and I split a cheesesteak sandwich and fries. The food was okay, but not very hot. And the order process took quite a while. They only have a few items available. I wouldnt think they would wait to kill the cow each time someone ordered a sandwich. It was food though and filled our stomach. I much preferred Pecos Bills for counter service (from our last years trip). I wouldnt be in hurry for Cosmic Rays again.
Dinner Yachtsman Steakhouse
We checked in about 6:20 for our 7:00 PS, and waited around 20 minutes before seating (we walked around the grounds during this time and checked out the pool area since we had never seen it). DW and I both had the filet, DW had a smashed potato side (that was a mixture of potatoes included sweet) and I had a baked potato. DD had the pasta, which was much better than the pasta at Sci Fi. We both liked our steaks (good cuts of meat), DW was especially happy with it. We also enjoyed an onion roll they served. We had a really good server that adjusted the meal since we were dining with a tempermental 2 year old. We werent interested in a fine dining experience just good food. She was able to make it to where our meal was finished in 40 minutes before DD got anxious and upset about sitting for too long. We will return to Yachtsman not a must do, but a good one for us.
Monday 12/9
Breakfast Kona Cafe
We finally made it over to Kona (this was our first time trying it after reading such good things). Kona seemed pretty unorganized we had a 25 minute wait to be seated. We ordered a Tonga Toast and Big Kahuna (pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham). We were using some breakfast vouchers we received with our park tickets, so we also got a muffin and juice (DW tried a mixed juice with 3 different kinds of juice and really liked it). For all the hype, we didnt care for the Tonga Toast. It was edible, but it just didnt strike us the right way. We thought the rest of the food was good though and wish we would have ordered another Big Kahuna instead (the regular French toast was better than the Tonga for us). Were glad we tried Kona, but we probably wont return.
Dinner Park Fare
We werent really planning on going to PF for dinner this trip. The past couple of times we went for dinner the food wasnt too great (not to be confused with the breakfast). But it had been pouring rain all day and DD hadnt gotten to do much. So we asked her if she wanted to eat with her buddies and she said yes. We waited about 15 minutes to be seated (PF is always busy). We were in shock with how good the food was. It seemed like everything we tried was good the marinara sauce, sausage & peppers, potatoes, cod, pork even the childrens items of the hot dogs and burgers were good. And the desserts were climbing their way back up in quality too with good brownies, fudge, chocolate cake, apple cobbler (and the bread pudding and strawberry soup that dont do much for us). The characters all made it by a couple of times too. This surpassed our Cape May dinner and ranked as our best dinner buffet of all time. We were very disappointed to see that Cinderall was replacing Pooh and friends when we returned. None of us are much fans of the princesses we prefer Pooh. But the increased quality of the food might make us return anyway.
Tuesday 12/10
Breakfast
DD slept in a little. And since this was our last day, we didnt really want to waste any MK time. So we passed on Tonys breakfast and hit the rides.
Lunch (if you can call it lunch)
I had a real ice cream sandwich from the Main Street Bakery real because they use fresh chocolate chip cookies and scoop their own ice cream. It is so good to have the sandwich with warm cookies. Then on our way out of the park around 1:00 I had a chocolate ice cream cone from the ice cream parlor and DW got an apple charlotte from the bakery (which she really liked).
We had other snacks mixed in, but nothing major that I can recall.
Any questions - just ask.
If it makes you feel any better, IMO you didn't miss anything by leaving before your meal - I wasn't impressed with that either. (I know a lot of people love this restaurant, but I'm not a fan.)
This happened to us once at the YSH. I just return a "high-browed" look, and think to myself, "And you expect a big tip"
, hoping my look conveys that message. I mean, why do they do that? Do they think they are going to intimidate me into changing my mind, lol? They are only shooting themselves in the foot. After the server walks away, I always say to my DH, "Well, there goes a few bucks off the tip"
