danicaw
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1999
- Messages
- 1,250
... We returned on Monday from a 5 night stay at OKW and a 3 night stay at VWL. For the first 5 days of the trip our group was made up of us and our 8 month old son, and all 5 of his grandparents.
We did one group meal each day. We did the group meal dutch to avoid anyone feeling they needed to treat the whole group. We also had the assortment of food needs- 2 people on the Zone, 2 vegetarians, 3 who don't eat meat other than poultry and beef, and an infant.
Monday - Breakfast at Crystal Palace.
This was wonderful. It was our first time to Crystal Palace and the first time we had done a character meal in a long time (since 95). The food was great and the Character interaction was wonderful. Pooh, Eyeore, and Tigger were roaming around and Piglet was stationed in the foyer area. Each of the 3 roaming spent time with our little guy, most knelt down and let him touch there faces. It was sooo sweet. All the grandparents loved the food and thought it was a great way to start the trip.
Tuesday - Lunch at Pepper Market
This is a favorite for us so we dragged everyone with us. The variety worked out great for the group. Everyone got to eat something that sounded good. If anything I think we had to many choices. My stepmom didn't settle on what she wanted until I was half way though my burrito. We did notice that the convention they had at Coronado Springs made the Market feel fuller, but we really didn't have to wait more than one person per station for food.
As usual hubby and I enjoyed our meal so much we returned later in the trip.
Wednesday - Lunch at Alfredo's
Ahhh, another favorite. We had 1:15 ps ressies and arrived a bit early as we were hungry. They seated us right away and even put us at a quite table so we could bring the stroller with sleeping baby in with us. We always indulge in the Fetticini and it was wonderful.
Service was fine and we all walked away full. This place has a love it or hate it following. We are in the love it school and feel it helps to dine when you have plenty of time and not at standard meal times.
Thursday - Lunch at Fresh
We had read some good reviews and the menus we saw looked good so we thought we would give this place a try. It wasn't what we expected. Again we had 1:15 reservations (as a note they stop serving lunch at 2) we were seated quickly and the process was explained to us. They have stations, each having a couple of entrees or items which will be prepared fresh for you.
We were expecting some place set up more like pepper market with dedicated stations for diffent types of food, pasta, meats, salad, etc. This was not the case. Pasta (which is a staple of our diet, we aren't the ones on the Zone) wasn't on any of the menus, other than a pasta salad. There was plenty for the people who are eating low carb, but the group who were vegetarians had to be a bit creative - some rolls and some sliced cheese = a sandwich, it was a little harder to justify the price for those. I noticed that my orange Chicken was not made fresh as it was almost 2 and we were close to the last diners. The dessert assortment did redeam the meal for those who didn't get much, but those were not replenshed, so once the last mini creme brulee was gone....it was gone.
My suggestion is if you are going to go early in the seating and be an adventurous eater.
We don't think we will be returning, it just didn't live up to our expections.
Friday - Breakfast at Boma
Most in our group checked out of there rooms before heading to the AKL for breakfast. Boma was great. The variety is wonderful and we all had all we could eat. The service was great, we really enjoyed the house juice. Two in our group actually checked into the AKL concierge that morning for the weekend and said the next day they could have eated all they wanted at the concierge lounge instead of paying for Boma. They aren't big breakfast eater.
After the meal the group spent an hour or so wandering around the resort. This worked out great for our last day together.
A final note on going with a group.
We had 7 adults and an infant, which means all tables had to be reserved for 8. And if you have a reservation or table for 8 tip is automatically include. This wasn't a problem, all the servers we encountered were great at giving us seperate checks and dividing up the included tip. The only slightly odd thing we encounted was at Fresh where they were more than happy to automatically include the tip as we had a party of 8 but only give the dvc discount to hubby and I since we were on a "seperate check". Just seemed odd to us. Oh well.
We had a great trip and ate some great food, can't wait for next time.
We did one group meal each day. We did the group meal dutch to avoid anyone feeling they needed to treat the whole group. We also had the assortment of food needs- 2 people on the Zone, 2 vegetarians, 3 who don't eat meat other than poultry and beef, and an infant.
Monday - Breakfast at Crystal Palace.
This was wonderful. It was our first time to Crystal Palace and the first time we had done a character meal in a long time (since 95). The food was great and the Character interaction was wonderful. Pooh, Eyeore, and Tigger were roaming around and Piglet was stationed in the foyer area. Each of the 3 roaming spent time with our little guy, most knelt down and let him touch there faces. It was sooo sweet. All the grandparents loved the food and thought it was a great way to start the trip.
Tuesday - Lunch at Pepper Market
This is a favorite for us so we dragged everyone with us. The variety worked out great for the group. Everyone got to eat something that sounded good. If anything I think we had to many choices. My stepmom didn't settle on what she wanted until I was half way though my burrito. We did notice that the convention they had at Coronado Springs made the Market feel fuller, but we really didn't have to wait more than one person per station for food.
As usual hubby and I enjoyed our meal so much we returned later in the trip.
Wednesday - Lunch at Alfredo's
Ahhh, another favorite. We had 1:15 ps ressies and arrived a bit early as we were hungry. They seated us right away and even put us at a quite table so we could bring the stroller with sleeping baby in with us. We always indulge in the Fetticini and it was wonderful.
Service was fine and we all walked away full. This place has a love it or hate it following. We are in the love it school and feel it helps to dine when you have plenty of time and not at standard meal times.
Thursday - Lunch at Fresh
We had read some good reviews and the menus we saw looked good so we thought we would give this place a try. It wasn't what we expected. Again we had 1:15 reservations (as a note they stop serving lunch at 2) we were seated quickly and the process was explained to us. They have stations, each having a couple of entrees or items which will be prepared fresh for you.
We were expecting some place set up more like pepper market with dedicated stations for diffent types of food, pasta, meats, salad, etc. This was not the case. Pasta (which is a staple of our diet, we aren't the ones on the Zone) wasn't on any of the menus, other than a pasta salad. There was plenty for the people who are eating low carb, but the group who were vegetarians had to be a bit creative - some rolls and some sliced cheese = a sandwich, it was a little harder to justify the price for those. I noticed that my orange Chicken was not made fresh as it was almost 2 and we were close to the last diners. The dessert assortment did redeam the meal for those who didn't get much, but those were not replenshed, so once the last mini creme brulee was gone....it was gone.
My suggestion is if you are going to go early in the seating and be an adventurous eater.
We don't think we will be returning, it just didn't live up to our expections.
Friday - Breakfast at Boma
Most in our group checked out of there rooms before heading to the AKL for breakfast. Boma was great. The variety is wonderful and we all had all we could eat. The service was great, we really enjoyed the house juice. Two in our group actually checked into the AKL concierge that morning for the weekend and said the next day they could have eated all they wanted at the concierge lounge instead of paying for Boma. They aren't big breakfast eater.
After the meal the group spent an hour or so wandering around the resort. This worked out great for our last day together.
A final note on going with a group.
We had 7 adults and an infant, which means all tables had to be reserved for 8. And if you have a reservation or table for 8 tip is automatically include. This wasn't a problem, all the servers we encountered were great at giving us seperate checks and dividing up the included tip. The only slightly odd thing we encounted was at Fresh where they were more than happy to automatically include the tip as we had a party of 8 but only give the dvc discount to hubby and I since we were on a "seperate check". Just seemed odd to us. Oh well.
We had a great trip and ate some great food, can't wait for next time.
