mom2aredhead
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2006
- Messages
- 2,660
Hi all. We just returned from our fabulous 7 days in the world and since I found so much great info on these boards, I felt like I wanted to pay it forward with some dining reviews.
A few words of caution, however, before you get started.
1 - You will see a recurring theme - my 3.5 year old son will almost exclusively be having chicken strips, chicken nuggets, pizza or a peanut butter sandwich made in the room and packed in a cooler. He is picky. Always has been. I do not expect to cure this during our seven days at Disney, so will not even attempt it. Too much time and money was spent on this trip to have a meltdown at meal time over vegetables.
2 - I have very realistic expectations. I do not expect every meal to be the most fabulous morsel of food I have ever eaten just because it was prepared in Disney. We live in NY and go to some really good restaurants here at home. This trip was about being in the parks and having fun. Also, I am not nit-picky. My meal will not be ruined because they changed the type of butter, or my green beans were too crunchy, or my table was facing the wrong direction.
3 - We decided against the DDP. We may have saved a few dollars if we had done it, but we were more concerned about being able to be flexible with our reservations and scheduling. That being said, some people will still feel the need to add up what I spent OOP and then show me how I could have eaten the same thing on DDP and gotten an extra mickey ice cream bar or counter service meal. Or how if I was on DDP I would have gotten so much more food if I had maximized the plan. Please don't. I'm fine with our decision.
OK - So, here we go...
Arrival day Sun: Quick lunch at Mara before we went swimming. Hubby and son both had chicken strips and fries (I know - great way to start the review - they're so adventurous!). I had the chicken pita w/cous cous on the side, which was delicious... usually grilled chicken is pretty dry but this was not. We also all shared a salad and a fruit bowl and got our refillable mugs.
Sunday dinner: 6:15 reservation at Chef Mickey's. Arrived at 6:00, seated right around 6:15. This place gets a lot of mixed reviews, but frankly, I thought it was really good. The menu is online, so I won't go thru everything, but I will say the mushroom ravioli triangles were probably my favorite. Hubby had several helpings of prime rib (that's what you get for having kid food for lunch!), the ham was good, the shrimp were good, overall I have no complaints. My FAVORITE dessert of the whole trip was the warm banana bread pudding. Yum!
My son was more tired than hungry (this was our arrival day and we had been up since around 5:00 am and he only slept for a short time in the car) so I was not going to fight with him about dinner - He ate a little mac and cheese, and a few bites of chicken strips (again). He had lots of fun with the characters, and was THRILLED to see "his girl" Minnie got to give her a kiss on the nose...the highlight of his day! We were happy to see that Donald was there instead of Chip and Dale, since they're pretty much everywhere you turn around. Characters came to visit more than once and spent a decent amount of time. Overall, I would recommend it.
Monday: We grabbed some muffins and yogurt for breakfast at Mara and headed to MGM. Had lunch with the gang at Play and Dine at Hollywood and Vine. My son had soooo much fun dancing with the singers and characters. We had an 11:45 reservation, (first seating) and were seated relatively on time. One side of the buffet still had breakfast items out, and the other side was lunch. The breakfast side was changed over within 20 minutes of our arrival. The menu is a LITTLE DIFFERENT than what is on the allears website - flank steak instead of pot roast, and 2 pasta dishes. Standouts: The flank steak and seafood pasta alfredo were both delicious. My husband agreed, and additionally he really liked the chicken that was in a red wine sauce which I did not try. Desserts were good, nothing WOW, but good. My son had his usual chicken nuggets (12 of them if you can believe it!) and ice cream for dessert. I would recommend this one also, especially if your kids are into the playhouse disney characters. It's loud, but that is something I would expect at a character meal geared for the younger crowd that is named "Play and Dine".
Monday Dinner: We left MGM right after the parade and went back to AKL to go swimming. Cleaned up and hopped over to MK for Spectro and Wishes. No one was really that hungry since we had a big lunch, so we grabbed a parade spot and sent hubby to get some hot dogs at Casey's. They really were good hot dogs. My son ate a few fries and a leftover applesauce I had thrown in my bag. (Keep in mind, the kid ate 12 chicken nuggets for lunch earlier that day). I kinda wished I had gone to get the food because for some reason, my husband put NOTHING on these hotdogs - not a drop of mustard or anything. Not sure what happened there, yet they were still good.
BTW - That was my first time seeing Spectro - it was amazing. Somehow in all my research I had completely missed the fact that it STARTS on Main Street,
so our spot in front of the train station was PERFECT. We ended up skipping wishes and heading out after the parade.
Tuesday: Hubby surprised me with a 9:00 am pedicure at Coronado Springs, so I grabbed some coffee and off I went. They got breakfast from Mara (I can't recall exactly, but if I had to guess I'd say a kids Mickey waffle platter and an egg and cheese croissant), did some swimming, then off to MK mid-afternoon. Funny - I have absolutely no recollection of eating lunch that day. Maybe we didn't? I'm really not sure. I'd like to think I fed my family, but I really can't swear to it.
Anyway, we had dinner reservations at 7:00 for Tony's Town Square. I only made these because this was planned as our MK day, and other than the Plaza (which had zero that my son would eat) it's the only non-character TS restaurant there and I figured after 2 character meals in a row, we would need a break. I also knew my son would eat pasta w/tomato sauce as long as I removed the offending meatball from his plate.
What I expected food-wise was Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill, (remember what I said about realistic expectations) and I was just about right. It was OK. We split the calamari appetizer (good but a little chewy), my husband had the Seafood Diavoli, which he said was OK, but kind of a small portion. I had the canneloni which was also OK. I wasn't sure why there was basil cream sauce AND tomato sauce on it, but whatever. They were very good about making my son penne with tomato sauce instead of spaghetti (he gags on spaghetti sometimes). I was a little confused, however, because I thought I could get his dinner with a salad and ice cream (since it was the a la carte list) but the server told me it came with 2 sides and bought out yogurt w/granola and fruit. Whatever. I found it pretty funny that we live in Staten Island, (probably the Italian Food capital of the country) yet here we were eating Italian Food in MK. So, I'll chalk it up as a life experiance and move on. It was OK, nothing to be scared of, but we probably won't be back. I think I'd just as soon do CS instead next time.
Coming soon...(probably not until tomorrow)
Counter Service: Flame Tree BBQ, Pinocchio Village Haus, Backlot Express and more Mara food.
Table Service: Mickey's Backyard BBQ, Garden Grill, Rainforest Cafe
A few words of caution, however, before you get started.
1 - You will see a recurring theme - my 3.5 year old son will almost exclusively be having chicken strips, chicken nuggets, pizza or a peanut butter sandwich made in the room and packed in a cooler. He is picky. Always has been. I do not expect to cure this during our seven days at Disney, so will not even attempt it. Too much time and money was spent on this trip to have a meltdown at meal time over vegetables.
2 - I have very realistic expectations. I do not expect every meal to be the most fabulous morsel of food I have ever eaten just because it was prepared in Disney. We live in NY and go to some really good restaurants here at home. This trip was about being in the parks and having fun. Also, I am not nit-picky. My meal will not be ruined because they changed the type of butter, or my green beans were too crunchy, or my table was facing the wrong direction.
3 - We decided against the DDP. We may have saved a few dollars if we had done it, but we were more concerned about being able to be flexible with our reservations and scheduling. That being said, some people will still feel the need to add up what I spent OOP and then show me how I could have eaten the same thing on DDP and gotten an extra mickey ice cream bar or counter service meal. Or how if I was on DDP I would have gotten so much more food if I had maximized the plan. Please don't. I'm fine with our decision.
OK - So, here we go...
Arrival day Sun: Quick lunch at Mara before we went swimming. Hubby and son both had chicken strips and fries (I know - great way to start the review - they're so adventurous!). I had the chicken pita w/cous cous on the side, which was delicious... usually grilled chicken is pretty dry but this was not. We also all shared a salad and a fruit bowl and got our refillable mugs.
Sunday dinner: 6:15 reservation at Chef Mickey's. Arrived at 6:00, seated right around 6:15. This place gets a lot of mixed reviews, but frankly, I thought it was really good. The menu is online, so I won't go thru everything, but I will say the mushroom ravioli triangles were probably my favorite. Hubby had several helpings of prime rib (that's what you get for having kid food for lunch!), the ham was good, the shrimp were good, overall I have no complaints. My FAVORITE dessert of the whole trip was the warm banana bread pudding. Yum!
My son was more tired than hungry (this was our arrival day and we had been up since around 5:00 am and he only slept for a short time in the car) so I was not going to fight with him about dinner - He ate a little mac and cheese, and a few bites of chicken strips (again). He had lots of fun with the characters, and was THRILLED to see "his girl" Minnie got to give her a kiss on the nose...the highlight of his day! We were happy to see that Donald was there instead of Chip and Dale, since they're pretty much everywhere you turn around. Characters came to visit more than once and spent a decent amount of time. Overall, I would recommend it.
Monday: We grabbed some muffins and yogurt for breakfast at Mara and headed to MGM. Had lunch with the gang at Play and Dine at Hollywood and Vine. My son had soooo much fun dancing with the singers and characters. We had an 11:45 reservation, (first seating) and were seated relatively on time. One side of the buffet still had breakfast items out, and the other side was lunch. The breakfast side was changed over within 20 minutes of our arrival. The menu is a LITTLE DIFFERENT than what is on the allears website - flank steak instead of pot roast, and 2 pasta dishes. Standouts: The flank steak and seafood pasta alfredo were both delicious. My husband agreed, and additionally he really liked the chicken that was in a red wine sauce which I did not try. Desserts were good, nothing WOW, but good. My son had his usual chicken nuggets (12 of them if you can believe it!) and ice cream for dessert. I would recommend this one also, especially if your kids are into the playhouse disney characters. It's loud, but that is something I would expect at a character meal geared for the younger crowd that is named "Play and Dine".
Monday Dinner: We left MGM right after the parade and went back to AKL to go swimming. Cleaned up and hopped over to MK for Spectro and Wishes. No one was really that hungry since we had a big lunch, so we grabbed a parade spot and sent hubby to get some hot dogs at Casey's. They really were good hot dogs. My son ate a few fries and a leftover applesauce I had thrown in my bag. (Keep in mind, the kid ate 12 chicken nuggets for lunch earlier that day). I kinda wished I had gone to get the food because for some reason, my husband put NOTHING on these hotdogs - not a drop of mustard or anything. Not sure what happened there, yet they were still good.
BTW - That was my first time seeing Spectro - it was amazing. Somehow in all my research I had completely missed the fact that it STARTS on Main Street,
so our spot in front of the train station was PERFECT. We ended up skipping wishes and heading out after the parade.Tuesday: Hubby surprised me with a 9:00 am pedicure at Coronado Springs, so I grabbed some coffee and off I went. They got breakfast from Mara (I can't recall exactly, but if I had to guess I'd say a kids Mickey waffle platter and an egg and cheese croissant), did some swimming, then off to MK mid-afternoon. Funny - I have absolutely no recollection of eating lunch that day. Maybe we didn't? I'm really not sure. I'd like to think I fed my family, but I really can't swear to it.
Anyway, we had dinner reservations at 7:00 for Tony's Town Square. I only made these because this was planned as our MK day, and other than the Plaza (which had zero that my son would eat) it's the only non-character TS restaurant there and I figured after 2 character meals in a row, we would need a break. I also knew my son would eat pasta w/tomato sauce as long as I removed the offending meatball from his plate.
What I expected food-wise was Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill, (remember what I said about realistic expectations) and I was just about right. It was OK. We split the calamari appetizer (good but a little chewy), my husband had the Seafood Diavoli, which he said was OK, but kind of a small portion. I had the canneloni which was also OK. I wasn't sure why there was basil cream sauce AND tomato sauce on it, but whatever. They were very good about making my son penne with tomato sauce instead of spaghetti (he gags on spaghetti sometimes). I was a little confused, however, because I thought I could get his dinner with a salad and ice cream (since it was the a la carte list) but the server told me it came with 2 sides and bought out yogurt w/granola and fruit. Whatever. I found it pretty funny that we live in Staten Island, (probably the Italian Food capital of the country) yet here we were eating Italian Food in MK. So, I'll chalk it up as a life experiance and move on. It was OK, nothing to be scared of, but we probably won't be back. I think I'd just as soon do CS instead next time.
Coming soon...(probably not until tomorrow)
Counter Service: Flame Tree BBQ, Pinocchio Village Haus, Backlot Express and more Mara food.
Table Service: Mickey's Backyard BBQ, Garden Grill, Rainforest Cafe
and after checking out and sending our bags on their way (I LOVE THAT) we asked my son which park he wanted to go to and although I would have bet a million dollars he would say MK, we were off to AK. Had an early lunch at RFC. Split quesedillas for an appetizer, hubby and I each had burgers, my son had pasta w/tomato sauce This is one of my son's favorite restautants because of the fish tanks and thunderstorms, and it's a "must do" on every trip even though we have one not far from home.
