Disney Dining Deluxe Doesn't Do Us In -- a week in heaven with photos

[bleeps]

Enjoying your pictures and reviews- thanks for sharing!

Thanks so much -- glad you're enjoying!

 

[bleeps]

I absolutely love your reviews! And I love how adventurous your son is in eating and how sophistocated his tastes are. My daughter was the same way...she is 25 now and has the most adventurous pallette of anyone I know. I think Disney has played a huge part in developing it.

Thanks for the feedback! It is nice to have a child along who is willing to try new things and kind of go with the flow. I think Disney creates such a comfort zone for kids that they feel OK about taking some risks -- nice to hear you felt the same way about the added benefits of WDW vacations!

 

[Lynn5700]

I LOVE your reviews!!!! Wea re also trying Jiko for the first time as well next trip, lol and going back to Coral Reef!!!!! We are getting Deluxe dining for the first time

I cannot flipping wait to have that steak with mac & cheese at Jiko.

Citricos looks very good. You have me wanting to go there now too haha, but we are trying Narcoossees instead. Have you ever been?

 

[bleeps]

I LOVE your reviews!!!! Wea re also trying Jiko for the first time as well next trip, lol and going back to Coral Reef!!!!! We are getting Deluxe dining for the first time

I cannot flipping wait to have that steak with mac & cheese at Jiko.

Citricos looks very good. You have me wanting to go there now too haha, but we are trying Narcoossees instead. Have you ever been?

I tell you from the bottom of my heart that you will not be disappointed in the steak w/ mac & cheese at Jiko! Enjoy every last morsel!

We've never been to Narcoossees, so if you go I hope you'll do a review!

 

[Colleen27]

I'm loving your reviews, especially your DS's. My DS is the same age and loves "adult" foods, and it is so rare to see a dining review with someone like him in the cast!

 

[bleeps]

I'm loving your reviews, especially your DS's. My DS is the same age and loves "adult" foods, and it is so rare to see a dining review with someone like him in the cast!

Cool! He's been reading over my shoulder and fondly remembering all those great meals, and is starting to form his list for our next trip....

 

[bleeps]

Le Cellier -- dinner on DH's 50th birthday

Part of DH's whole vision of going to WDW for his 50th birthday was so that he could have dinner at Le Cellier. Can't begin to tell you how anxious I was to get that ADR!! He said he'd certainly understand if I couldn't, and that as long as we got there once on the trip he'd be OK, but I was thrilled when I was able to tell him that, yes, your birthday dinner will be exactly where you were hoping it would be.

I tried just now to find our receipt so I could tell you our server's name, but it's not at hand at the moment. The cm was young, and probably fairly new to waiting tables, but he couldn't have been more perfect. He was sweet and engaging and very great about the birthday thing. [edited to add: Greg! I thought it was Greg and indeed it was. Great guy!]

On that note let me just quickly say that I can't imagine how the entire cast has dealt with the "Celebrate!" theme for a year. My gosh. The place was just choked, day after day, with people wanting special attention for whatever it was they were celebrating, and overall we thought the cast did an outstanding job -- throughout the entire WDW complex -- of noticing the special buttons and treating people specially on their birthdays, etc. I had indicated on the ADRs just for this day that we were celebrating DH's 50th, but Le Cellier was the only place that noticed it specially. More about that in a moment.

The appetizers, then!
I had the Prince Edward Island mussels with celery, shallots, ginger, garlic, and coconut milk. I'd been having a hard time deciding what to get and our cm recommended these -- spot on. Really, really tasty and wonderful:

DS had the cheddar cheese soup, because he figured, as he says, that if there's cheese then you can't go wrong. He enjoyed it, even though he's usually strictly a French Onion Soup guy. When he started to slow down, DH and I jumped in to help him out -- what are good parents for, if not to help you with your soup?

DH went for the Tomato Stack - with Caramelized Onions, Cucumbers, Crumbled Blue Cheese, and Yuzu Vinaigrette. He's a tomato stack guy, and he felt this stack was even tastier than the one at Yachtsman's. He ordered the same thing last year, and was very, very happy that it was as good as he remembered.

Even though you might very well think that DS and I had burned out on filet mignon by this point -- well, you'd be wrong. That's what we all ordered -- with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce that makes you seriously want to consider licking the bowl.

Our cm did his very best to pace this meal for us, and he did a fine job. We respected the fact that even though we were celebrating a big 5-0 birthday, they did still need to turn the table but we still managed to have a wonderful time. The wine we had was fantastic -- a cabernet sauvignon, as I recall, and just ideal with the meat.

When it came time for dessert, DH was presented with a card that many of the cm's on staff that night had signed, indicating where in Canada they were from. And he was presented with this:

We all had the maple creme brulee -- again, it's one of those things we dream about when we're waiting for our next trip -- and it was fantastic.

We so enjoyed our cm that on the way out, I mentioned to the manager how wonderful he had been. It turns out that they have special little cards you can fill out, and once a month they draw out a name from people who've been recognized specially by guests and they get something (maybe it was a gift certificate? it was something decent). I hope our guy won. Please consider doing this when you have exceptional service -- mention it to the manager. It really makes a difference to the cm.

Food: A+
I know Le Cellier takes its knocks. There are people who feel the quality has gone down so far as to make it a non-starter for them. There are people who complain that the meat isn't up to their standards. I respect that we all have our opinions and experiences. Our love of Le Cellier isn't out of lack of understanding what a great steak is supposed to taste like. We've never had anything but stellar experiences here, and we feel that it's a steal at 1 TS credit. DH wonders if there's a way, next trip, to eat here twice....
Service: A+
He might not have been the most highly experienced server we'd ever had, but this guy was genuine and caring in a way that made my DH utterly delighted to have spent his 50th at this place.
Atmosphere:
We like the fact that this place is kind of small and dimly lit -- we had a booth up against a back wall and it was so lovely....
Value: $187

 

[bleeps]

Just a little something extra!

We aren't big drinkers, but I figured that this special trip deserved at least one champagne toast! We stopped at the little kiosk at France and each got a glass, and DS did the honors with the camera. We strolled around WS, listened to Mo' Rockin' (if you've never caught their set, I can highly recommend it), took in the sights.

If you haven't been to WDW yet, or if you tend to go commando-style, I just cannot recommend enough giving yourself the opportunity to slow down, relax, treat yourself to something crazy like an $11 glass of champagne or whatever would be special for you and enjoy. Don't worry about the next attraction or the next character or show or whatever -- just see what comes your way.

I also recommend handing your camera to your child sometimes. He's very careful, he knows that the FIRST thing is to put the strap around his neck so he can't drop it, and he's taken some really interesting shots that I never would have thought of. On that note, I guess I need to share one more he took while we were ordering the champagne:

I love that it's from his point of view -- I never would have taken that shot.

 

[KatMark]

Loving the reviews. What good parents you are to help DS with his cheddar cheese soup.

Your pictures great and your descriptions even better.

 

[bleeps]

Loving the reviews. What good parents you are to help DS with his cheddar cheese soup.

Your pictures great and your descriptions even better.

Thank you! I opted to make most of the pictures small so that they'd download quickly -- hope that's working for everyone!

 

[KatMark]

Thank you! I opted to make most of the pictures small so that they'd download quickly -- hope that's working for everyone!

I love the small pictures. if I could figure out how to do that, I'd download mine small in the future too.

 

[DjdBrit]

I just stumbled on your review and I am really enjoying them. Keep up the good work

 

[livinlife25]

Loving your reviews!

 

[jpmom97]

Enjoying your reviews! Can't wait to read more. My son is an adventurous eater too, glad to see other kids are the same.

 

[bleeps]

I love the small pictures. if I could figure out how to do that, I'd download mine small in the future too.

Do you use Photobucket? That's where I bulk download my photos, and I use the option upfront to bring them all in at a small size. When I download individual photos to the album, I bring them in full size, then use the 'resize' option within Photobucket to alter them. I can try to be more specific, if it would help....

 

[KatMark]

Do you use Photobucket? That's where I bulk download my photos, and I use the option upfront to bring them all in at a small size. When I download individual photos to the album, I bring them in full size, then use the 'resize' option within Photobucket to alter them. I can try to be more specific, if it would help....

Yes, I use Photobucket. What size to do you "resize" them to?

 

[bleeps]

Thanks to everyone for all the kind words and positive feedback!

Le Chefs de France

We'd had lunch here several trips ago and always had it in mind to go back. Free dining had started by this point, and it caused a huge surge in the crowd levels at all the restaurants. I really and truly felt bad for the poor souls without ADRs -- they didn't have a chance at getting in to any TS places. It was raining off and on this particular evening, and the cm at the check-in booth was, it seemed, turning away twice as many as she was checking in. I was worried that we'd be way off our ADR time, but we only waited about 15 minutes.

BTW, that was never a problem for us -- we found that all our ADRs were honored within just a few minutes of the time we booked.

And on to the meal!

I absolutely love escargot (snails served in a very garlicky butter sauce with parsley). I wasn't going to pass them up and I'm glad -- these were tender and delicious:

DS had French onion soup, which as I mentioned previously is, for him, what the word 'soup' means. This version was cheesy and rich and so flavorful -- he put a major dent in it.

DH had a house green salad, and found it very fresh and flavorful.

Entree for me was roasted breast of duck and leg confit, french green beans and sweet potato, spicy honey sauce. It was amazing -- the duck was so rich and tender! The only kind of funny thing was that the sweet potato was cooked in a small, round, foil container, and it still had all the marks of it -- can you see that? It didn't chance the tasty flavor, but it looked odd.

DH had half of an all-natural roasted chicken, rissole potatoes and grilled tomato, and he adored it:

When it was his turn to order, DS looked at me and said, "would be it alright if I ordered the mac and cheese, since it is on the adult menu and everything?" and I said, "honey, you are on vacation and you can order whatever sounds good to you!" This version is made with gruyere cheese which DS happens to love -- it's not a typical kid-style mac and cheese but boy, is it good! DS ended up trying quite a bit of my duck, so (as at most meals) we shared back and forth.

We did find it within us to order desserts, even though we all did really good jobs on our entrees.
Our cm, Romain, was incredible -- more about him in a moment -- and he really, really wanted DS to try the profiteroles. DS already had his heart set on creme brulee, but I told him that I'd order that and he could get the profiteroles and we would share/switch if he wanted. DH went with his favorite -- assortment of sorbets.

The profiteroles -- fantastic!

The creme brulee -- done to perfection, and just the right serving size:

The sorbets -- DH finished them all easily, they were so good.

The guys, with Romain:

Romain was delightful, and we so enjoyed his service that once again we spoke to the manager on our way out (although this restaurant didn't have the card/reward system that Le Cellier had, the manager still went and wrote it down and seemed very, very pleased). There are two Romains working there, as it turns out -- "ours" was the one from Paris, the "tall Romain" as the manager said! Anyway, we noticed that he was from Paris and we commented that we couldn't imagine his giving up Paris for Orlando. He was so friendly and eager to explain that while Paris is an amazing place to visit (DH's and my favorite city!) it is a very hard place to live -- expensive, difficult to navigate on a daily basis (public transportation is fairly easy to use, but driving is a nightmare), and he was the one to say that the people just are not very friendly (although we've never had a problem there, they are definitely "city people" -- focused on their own comings and goings and brusque in the way city-dwellers tend to be).

Romain just adores the US, he loves working at WDW, and he couldn't have done a better job for us. Remember -- the place was jammed because free dining had started, but Romain managed his tables beautifully and wasn't too busy to engage with us. This experience put Chefs on our "must" list and we especially enjoy it for lunch for the beautiful views out all the big windows.

Food: A
Service: A++
Atmosphere: A
Having been to Paris 3 times, I can say that this place really does have the feel of a Parisian restaurant.
Value: $146

 

[Briarmom]

Really enjoying the reviews!!

 

[bleeps]

Yes, I use Photobucket. What size to do you "resize" them to?

Once the photos are in an album, click the 'edit' link, then the 'resize' button; I used the 'small' pre-set size for all the food pictures in this review. It is important to decide if you're going to do anything else with your photos from Photobucket -- if they are just for online use, as mine were, then choose the "replace original" option after you re-size so that you don't have multiples of each shot in the album. BUT if you are going to order prints, choose the "duplicate" option because the smaller size photos aren't going to print up as well as larger ones.

You get to preview the size before going ahead and altering your photo.

 

[bleeps]

Crystal Palace breakfast

It is one of our traditions to have an 8 a.m. breakfast at Crystal Palace on the day we leave (which, fortunately for us, has never been an MK emh morning). We have always gotten out to the bus stop by 7:15 and had no problem catching the MK Character Breakfast bus.

But, this time, apparently we didn't get the memo. What we should have done, as it turns out, was alert the concierge desk the night before that we would want the bus to stop at YC. We didn't do that. The next thing we probably should have done (hindsight being 20/20) was that when it got to be later and later and no bus was coming was to jump in a cab to the GF and jump on the monorail from there. (The only thing I wish were different for the transportation system is that I wish it were possible to take a cab directly to MK, but you have to go to and from the TTC if you're in a cab).

By the time the bus for MK finally came it was a little after 8, and our ADR had been for 8. We decided it was what it was -- we'd just deal. We got to MK and they had let guests through the turnstyles but were holding them at the entrance to the train station to await rope drop. We, politely as we could, worked our way to the front of the crowd and explained our situation to the cm, who very nicely let us through.

Now, one of the reasons we love the early ADR is the opportunity to get castle pictures with an empty park. But we were all so harried by this point (it was a little past 8:30) that we went straight to CP to check in.

We took deep breaths, reminded each other that we were going to have a great last day no matter what, and sat down at our table.

For us, that marvelous CP breakfast buffet is all about the puffed French toast; this was my plate so I had some scrambled eggs and grits as well:

Ah, just as good as we remembered! DS loves the Pooh characters and, as luck would have it, had already had good visits with all of them at AK. He was the one to suggest that we'd take whatever characters came our way but that we wouldn't hang around for all 4.

Luckily, the two we got were his two favorites!

People do ask us what keeps us going back to Disney year after year. There are many answers to that question, but there's no question that one of them is having a son who, at age 11, is still just so, so happy to be able to give these characters a big hug and interact with them a bit. Who wouldn't want to hold on to this part of childhood for as long as possible?

We were able to finish up and get out into the park by just a little after 9. We would have wished for a slightly less rushed and stressful morning, but we'll know next year to make the request ahead of time for the early bus to stop at the resort for us or else we'll hop a cab earlier.

Food: A
This is our favorite buffet on property. Sure, it has gotten a little less spectacular in the last few years, but as long as there is puffed French toast, we'll be here!
Service: A
She knew our tale of woe and she was all over getting us our drinks and letting us know when the characters were coming; she also was great about dropping our check early, as we asked.
Atmosphere: A
We all love the airy feel in here, and even if they don't have a lot of time to linger some days, the character interactions have always been really great.
Value: $57