Dining reviews Apr 15-22

[jeeperwy]

We just returned from a GREAT trip, and I thought that I would pass on our experiences since what I read here before we went helped us A LOT!!! Oh, trip included me, DH, DS10, DS4

Apr 15
Arrived WDW 11:00 PM, so no meals today except some yucky Quiznos we got in Denver for the flight!

Apr 16
I had ordered breakfast items from Garden Grocer for our cabin as there is no counter service at Ft. Wilderness. This worked out great as the kids could eat while we got everyone ready.
Lunch--CS at Sunshine Seasons
Food was great. Since this was our first time with the dining plan, I was a little confused and probably could have made better choices, but everything was good (busy though!!) We would definately return.
Dinner--TS at Garden Grille
Again food was good. DS10 tried catfish for the first time and even though it wasn't my favorite catfish (too soggy) DS10 loved it and asked for more!! Character interaction was good too. Only problem was when we gave server our card he didn't come back. Finally after about 25 minutes we asked what was taking so long and they said they had some problems with our card. When we got the receipts it showed 3 adults 2 kids. He assured us that it only charged 1 child credit, but I went to the desk at Ft. Wilderness to make sure. Probably would return, but with so many great TS, it might be a while.

Apr 17
Lunch--Pecos Bill's
A very good meal. I switched with DS4, since he didn't want the sloppy joe, he ate my burger. The only downside to this is that I didn't get to have any of the toppings, but DH had some and said that it was really good. Another note, I had the SF Jello-like substance and did NOT care for it at all, and I actually like jello.
Dinner--Mama Melrose
This was definately DH's favorite meal of the trip. He kept asking if we were eating there again (this trip ). DH had the bruschetta, spicy italian sausage, and the truffle cake. I had the tomato & mozz, steak, and crema limone. DH and I shared so we got to try more. Everything was wonderful. DS10 had the breads, four cheese flatbread, and gelato. DS4 had spaghetti, but I don't think he liked the sauce because he didn't eat a lot and this kid LOVES spaghetti!!!! Excellent meal, excellent service. Oh, we were 30 minutes late for our ADR (waiting on a bus at Ft. Wilderness) but they were very nice and seated us fairly quickly (our ADR was for 4:30 so maybe that made a difference.)

Be back soon with the rest. I have to get back to work!!! SHHHHHH don't tell anyone!!

Kari

 

[DisneyJo]

Great reviews so far can't wait for the rest! And don't worry I won't tell

 

[always on vacation]

subscribing

 

[undertheseas]

Wow, great reviews! I love reading these to help me plan for our trip. Keep 'em coming and thanks!

 

[TruBlu]

 

[kelleigh1]

Sounds good! I have to remember to add Pecos Bill's to our list. It seems to be a pretty well-rated place and with the toppings bar - can't beat that.

 

[Rich271]

Great reviews.

 

[wilma-bride]

Thanks for the reviews - looking forward to more

 

[jeeperwy]

Ok, back to work so I thought I'd add a little more.

Apr 18
Lunch--CS at Casey's Corner
I chose this as my 4yo LOVES hot dogs and I thought that everyone could enjoy it. Each of us had the hot dog, brownie and drink. I also ordered 2 sides of fries which I used 2 snack credits for. This was fine with me, because we were rarely in the park in the afternoon and didn't use many snack credits until we went to DTD. The only issue that I had with Casey's is that the only two dessert choices are brownie (which is VERY good) or Cracker Jacks. I must have the weirdest 4yo on the planet because he doesn't eat chocolate. (He also doesn't eat popcorn, but I think that's a texture issue). We just ordered the brownie for him and took it with us, which my DH devoured later that night!!! Also seating could be a problem. We got there early and got a table in the shade, but a lot of people were walking around trying to find somewhere to sit. Oh yeah, they still have the cheese sauce here if you want some for your fries or hot dog. YUM!
Dinner--TS at Crystal Palace
This by far was the most disappointing meal we had the entire trip. DS4 has always loved Pooh and even though we have pictures with Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore, we have never seen Piglet at Disneyland (which is the park we usually go to because of distance). I thought that this would be perfect because DS4 would finally get to see his "best friend, Piglet." Food was OK. I thought that the kid's selection was VERY limited. Mac-n-cheese, chicken fingers, and green beans. DS10 did find the peanut butter and jelly to make a sandwich, but DS4 doesn't eat peanut butter (texture thing again). We have gone to Goofy's Kitchen several times in Disneyland and thought that the buffet would be similar but I should have done more research. Service was HORRIBLE. We had the absolute WORST server I have ever had a restaurant. He took my DH's tea glass but never came back. I had to ask one of the character handlers for something to drink. Later he did the same with DS10. It wasn't just us that he was ignoring either. All of his tables got the same attention. In the end, it was worth it for the characters, but I would NOT go back for dinner.

Apr 19
Lunch--TS at Trail's End
We had a change of plans today. We had planned on going to a water park, but when we got up, we decided to just "wing it." We goofed around the campground some and then chose to go to Trail's End for lunch. I thought that the food was very good. Some would say that it's a "waste" of a TS credit, but it worked very good for my family that day. Service was excellent, and food was replenished very frequently.
Dinner--TS at Coral Reef
I had heard mixed views about Coral Reef, but I thought that DS4 would love the fish, so I went ahead and booked it (even though DH doesn't eat seafood or fish! ). By the time we got from the gates to the restaurant DS4 was asleep, and I mean WAY asleep. Our seater originally had us at a table, but when he saw DS4, he moved us to a booth. I thought this was very nice and accomodating, especially since I would be the one to hold DS4! DH had the salad, steak, and the chocolate wave. I had the salad, salmon, and the creme brulee. DS10 had the soup, chicken breast, and cheesecake. He also got a strawberry smoothie for his drink. We ordered mac-n-cheese and milk for DS4, but he never woke up, so they boxed it up for us to take home. Everyone enjoyed their food. Service was great. We had no complaints at all, but I can see where if you didn't get a tank-side table it would be a let down for little ones (but since ours was asleep we didn't have any problems.) I would eat here again, but with so many other great choices, it might be a while.

I'll finish the rest later, work is calling!!!
Thanks for reading, I hope that it helps someone.

Kari

 

[kelleigh1]

Sorry to hear your troubles with Crystal Palace. So you didn't get to see Piglet at all?

I would probably recommend Crystal Palace for breakfast. We went last year and the food was all really good. We got a late seating as we don't have kids and figured it would be a little quieter. It was, but there were still enough kids there to see some good interaction. And if I remember correctly, Piglet was the first character we saw that day. And the service was very good.

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for the reviews!

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

Thanks for sharing your opinions. Can't wait for the rest!

 

[lajones81]

Great reviews!! I can't wait to read more!

 

[ufgator]

Thanks for your reviews.

 

[Booknut]

Thanks for the reviews, sorry you had a bad time at Crystal Palace. We had a late lunch there (around 2pm) and the character interaction was fabulous and our server was one of the nicest ladies i've ever met. Hope your server was just having a bad day.

I would definitely recommend giving that place another try, maybe outside 'normal' eating hours because the characters were great and came around twice while we were there and each came to our table (and we don't even have kids...yet!).

 

[wilma-bride]

Sorry to hear about your experience at CP - while we've never eaten lunch or dinner there, we have done breakfast which was a great experience. I can highly recommend it and your DS would definitely be able to find more that he could eat

Enjoying your reviews - glad to hear that you liked Coral reef. It's a place we never really consider because neither of us is big on seafood but it does get a bad rap sometimes.

 

[jeeperwy]

Sorry, I've been busy with work, baseball, soccer, and swimming!!!

Apr 20
Lunch--TS at Sci-Fi
DS10 REALLY wanted to eat here, so I thought that lunch would be good. I was right! This was a great meal and the service was great too. Again, some would say that it was a "waste" of a TS, but weren't trying the get everything we could out of the dining plan, we just thought it would be a win-win situation. I knew that we would eat more than $38/day per person so I figured that it would be an enjoyable way to eat on vacation. DH got the artichoke dip, the rueben, and the sundae. I got the salad, burger and sundae. DS10 got the onion rings, burger and a milkshake. DS4 got a hot dog and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Everyone really enjoyed their meal, and the kids were entertained so that made an enjoyable meal for mom and dad too!!!
Dinner--CS at Earl of Sandwich
Since we had used our TS earlier in the day and I knew that we were going to DTD for the evening I planned on either E of S, or Wolfgang Puck's. We stumbled upon E of S first so there we ate. Our sandwiches were excellent (the bread was delish!!!!) and we took our cookies to go for later. This was definately a great CS meal, and we tried to figure a way to get back here on our departure day to take some to go with our last CS credits, but time didn't allow. We would definately eat here again. Oh, and since we were having such a hard time using our snack credits, we got like 8 things in Goofy's Candy Shop to take home. Were still eating the rice krispy treats and mom is trying to stay away from them!!!

Apr 21 (last day in the parks)
Lunch--CS at Flame Tree BBQ
This was a good lunch, but next time I would order something different. DH had the ribs and key lime pie (he actually licked the plate when he thought no one was looking!!), I had the salad and the frozen lemonade, DS10 had the BBQ sandwich and chocolate cake (I think??), and DS4 had another hot dog???? Everyone liked their food, except I wasn't crazy about the salad. It really was just iceberg lettuce with pieces of cold chicken in it. It wasn't bad, but by sampling off of the other's plates I would have enjoyed something else more (nobody's fault, just I will know better next time). AK was PACKED (at least for us) so we left pretty early. I also think that everyone was ready to just rest even though we took Thursday off, we needed some "down time." (which is what we did!!)
Dinner--TS at Whispering Canyon
I guess that we were some of the lucky ones that night (from what I have read here), but we had a GREAT time. DS4 can get a little "rowdy" sometimes and our server just egged him on. He didn't know what to think!!! DS4 had fun with the pony races too. For dinner DH had the wings, steak (?), and the chocolate cake. I had the nachos, pork chops, and apple pie. DS10 had the wings (which he thought were a little too hot for him, but DH and I LOVED them), a burger, and the apple pie. DS4 had the mac-n-cheese which our server fed to him. He was too full for dessert, so that's all he had. Our only complaint was that we had WAY too much food. At home DH and I would have just had the wings for dinner, so we were beyond full. DH and DS10 kept asking if we could come back (mind you we leave the next day at 11:00, so the answer was no, but they really liked it!!!). We had planned to go to the campfire when we got back to Ft. Wilderness, but instead we stayed on the beach until it was so dark we couldn't see. DS10 found some kids and played tetherball, and DS4 played on the water's edge in the sand. This was a great end to our vacation. It was really low-key and I think that the kids had more fun this night than they did the whole trip.
Apr 22 (departure day YUCK)
We still had 8 CS credits left, so we took the boat over the the WL for breakfast. We got 2 breakfast platters, pancakes, a donut (for DS4), milk, coffee, juice and water. She charged us 3 credits. So we left without using 5 of our CS credits, but I still felt we "got our money's worth" with the dining plan. DH likes TS meals, I wanted to do some character meals, and DS10 eats off of the adult menu anyway so it was a good choice for us. We stopped at one of the outposts and bought MORE rice krispy treats, and some gummy candy with our remaining snack credits.

Oh, our meal at Crystal Palace--I don't want people to think that it wasn't good food, it just wasn't what I had pictured in my mind which is my fault. If we were to go back, we would definately try breakfast. But the main reason we went was for DS4 to see Piglet (which we did do, sorry if that was unclear), and the next time we go back he might be out of the "Pooh" phase, so maybe we would try LLT or one of the many GREAT places that there is to choose from.

We had a wonderful time, and had so much great food. DH is talking about when we go "next time" so hopefully we will get to try even more!!!

Thanks for reading!!!!

Kari

 

[DisneyJo]

Thanks for great reviews

 

[candykisses]

Loved reading your reviews, thanks!

 

[Reagan&Co.]

It sounds like you had pretty good service- awesome! I loved the food at WCC and hated to waste what I couldn't eat.
Are you planning on a TR for Ft. Wilderness? You don't see many of those....would love to read it!
Thanks for sharing your review~!