Disney Dining on FTP with Silver Plan add-on (long)

[Reflection]

For our recent stay at WDW on the Fairytale Package, we (my daughter, age 10, and I) had the silver plan add-on, which amounted to a total of 28 wishes. I originally opted for the wishes because I planned to spend several of them at the Disney Institute Spa, but it was subsequently closed. Anyway, here is where we dined (note: I did not use wishes for my daughter's meals, as she ordered off the children's menu, nor did I use them for counter service meals) and my ratings for food and service/ambience (on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being all things excellent):

Sunday, 8/3
Flying Fish--I had the corn chowder as the starter and the filet as the entree. The soup was very good; the filet was a huge hunk of beef, the meat was rarer than I like but still delicious and the bearnaise sauce (the sauce was called something else on the menu) was absolutely terrific. My daughter ordered the pasta (with butter/cheese, no marinara sauce) from the kid's menu and a salad. I ordered the chocolate hazelnut dessert (a fancy Kit Kat bar, as my daughter called it). I really did not care for this; partly because I felt the wafers were a bit stale, but mainly because what I really wanted was the chocolate souffle, but our server only informed us as we were ordering that it would take 30 minutes to prepare. Why did he not say that much earlier (as was done in other restaurants, where certain desserts required longer prep time).

Although, the quality of the food was good, I was extremely disappointed in the service, which cast a damper on the evening. Since I was ordering wine by the glass, instead of a bottle, our server was not particularly interested in our party. The couple sitting at the table next to us commented to me they thought the service horrible, and felt that both the food (according to them very similar food) and service at the California Grill was much better than that at Flying Fish.

Rating: Food--8 (would have been higher, had I enjoyed the dessert); service/ambience--4.

Monday, 8/4
Lunch--Tony's at Magic Kingdom. We did not have a priority seating but walked in shortly after 11 and were seated immediately. Starter: buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes; entree--pasta/chicken special. I was pleasantly suprised at the quality of the food. I had dined here before on a previous trip and did not care for the food at all. The appetizer was delicious, and the entree--tortellini with sliced chicken and various vegetables (asparagus and assorted squashes) was very good. Dessert: creme brulee--very, very good. Rating: food, 7; service, 8.

Dinner--Brown Derby (Fantasmic Package)
Appetizer: potato crusted crab cake--absolutely WONDERFUL! Entree: filet of beef--very good (. My daughter ordered the pasta and a salad from the kid's menu.
Dessert: flourless chocolate torte. Chocoholic that I am, I did not care for this dessert. I should stuck with the grapefruit cake or the creme brulee, which is what I usually order. As with Flying Fish, although the food quality was good; the service was mediocre. For example, lenghty waits for drink orders to be filled, bread to be delivered, etc. Rating: food, 8; service, 4.

Tuesday, 8/4
Lunch: Counter service at Rosie's in MGM.

Dinner: Cinderella's Royal Table
Appetizer: soup du jour, which was cream of brocoli. Good
Entree: beef tenderloin (8 oz) with root mashed potatoes. Well, the beef was good, but the mashed potatoes were absolutely delicious.
Dessert: apple bread pudding with maple nut ice cream. Good, but nothing to write home about.
Rating: food, 6; service; 9. I felt the food was good, but the service was absolutely outstanding. As for ambience, I've heard this place described as so romantic. Well, I thought I was sitting in the midst of an extremely loud cafeteria. The noise level was daunting.

Wednesday, 8/5
Lunch: Grand Floridian Cafe ( I had lunch here while my daughter did the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party).

Appetizer--crab cake (just okay and nowhere close to that served at the Brown Derby).
Entree: Tilapia with rice and mango salsa. Delicious
Dessert: Apple Brown Betty with ice cream (good--had this wrapped up to go)

I think this is such a lovely, quiet restaurant. Unfortunately, I had the worst waiter. Lengthy waits to place food order, drink order, drink refills, and the restaurant was not crowded. Overall rating: food; 7; service, 2.

Dinner: Chefs du France (Epcot)
Appetizer: Scallops (Coquille St. Jacques). Terrific
Entree: Jumbo shrimp with risotto gallete. Terrific
Wine: two glasses blanc de blanc sparkling wine--very, very good
Dessert: Banana and chocolate crepe (okay; I should have ordered the creme brulee or tarte tatin).

Rating: food; 8; service, 8.

Thursday, 8/6
Lunch: Rose and Crown (Epcot)
Appetizer: Fruit and cheese plate (good)
Entree: Fish and chips (so-so)
Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding (good)

This restaurant is one of our favorites. Service was good, but food quality was not as good in the past. My meal was actually cold, and the chips were soggy and cold.

Rating: food, 4; service, 7

Dinner: Bistro de Paris (Epcot)
Appetizer: foie gras (absolutely delicious)
Entree: chicken (very good)
Dessert: chocolate souffle (finally, a chocolate dessert that I enjoyed very much)
Wine: I had a glass of sparkling wine (very good) and a glass chardonnay (good but I prefer a less fruity chardonnay)
Rating: food, 9; service, 9.

Friday, 8/8
Lunch: Grand Floridian Cafe
Appetizer: French onion soup--very good
Entree: Philly Cheese Steak--YUCK!
Dessert: Strawberry shortcake (very good)
Thankfully, on this outing I had different wait staff, who was provided very good service.
Rating: food, 5; service, 8.

Dinner: Citricos (Grand Floridian)
Appetizer: Crab Cake (EXCELLENT)
Entree: Veal Shank (very, very good)
Wines: sparkling wine (two glasses, both very good)
Dessert: Chocolate Banana torte (good, but I think I would have liked the tropical creme brulee better)

What a delightful restaurant. Wonderful ambience, and exceptional service. Had I eaten here at the start of our stay iinstead of towards the end, I would have eaten one or two more evenings. Rating: food, 10; service, 10. This restaurant definitely warrants a repeat visit.

Saturday, 8/9
Lunch: Pizzafari (Animal Kingdom--we did the meal special). I had the Caesar salad (good) and my daughter had the kid's cheese pizza (good).

Dinner: Hoop de Doo Revue
The show was wonderful. The ribs were good, as was my pitcher of sangria. My daughter gave two thumbs up on the fried chicken. The strawberry shortcake still rates a big YUCK. So, we had smores over at the FW campfire movie.

Sunday, 8/10
Late lunch/early dinner: Rose and Crown
We chose this for our farewell meal and a repeat of Thursday items for our meal. Again, good service but my entree had obviously sat under a warming light too long.

In summary, we had good dining experiences, overall, and I have a new favorite in Citricos. As for the silver add-on, I liked having the plan. Since sit-down lunches usually factor into our plans, I did not find the number of meals burdensome. However, I would have liked more flexibility when ordering food; for example, ordering two appetizers and salad instead of appetizer and entree. Even though I used a good number of wishes on meals, it took some planning to use the remainder. The spa options at the GF spa were not particularly interesting to me, but once I found out two wishes could be used for a 50-minute massage, well, I was good to go. Remaining wishes were used for the child care in the kid's clubs and to purchase pins.

 

[BabyMo]

Sounds like you ate at some great places. We opted not get the Silver Plan added on to this trip because the one thing that I didn't like about the plan was that I felt obligated to stuff myself because I was using the wish. I loved using the package, but I ate soooo much.

We also found ourselves with extra wishes at the end of the trip and ended up using wishes for a lot of things we probably woudln't have considered buying at the gift store.

Out of the places you went to, we're only going to CRT (for dinner on my birthday) but your post is making me very excited for the upcoming trip!

 

[Reflection]

BabyMo, my daughter is really into collecting the Disney pins. Those were the only merchandise items we used wishes for the purchase. Originally, I had planned a daily visit to the DI spa, but when it was closed, I had considered cancelling the silver add-on.

 

[Minniespal]

Wonderful reviews ~ Thanks for sharing!!!!!

 

[Scratch42]

I am glad to hear that you can get a 50min Massage for 2 wishes!

Feeling better already!LOL

A quick question regarding the Pins, my DD is also into Pin Trading but I noticed that they say you get a Lanyard plus Pins. Will they allow you just to take Pins? Also, were there restrictions as to which pins you were allowed to choose?

TIA

Scratch

 

[Imgoingplaces]

Thanks for the reviews. We have had that dessert at Tony's it's yummy!

I think I had read somewherer that the staff at the flying fish is hired byt the restaurant adn tehy aren't really Disney CM's is that true?

 

[Reflection]

Originally posted by Scratch42
I am glad to hear that you can get a 50min Massage for 2 wishes!

Feeling better already!LOL

A quick question regarding the Pins, my DD is also into Pin Trading but I noticed that they say you get a Lanyard plus Pins. Will they allow you just to take Pins? Also, were there restrictions as to which pins you were allowed to choose?

TIA

Scratch

Scratch
Even if you already have a lanyard, you have to get another. So, I got a lanyard, although I won't use it, so that my daughter could get additional pins. Also, you are limited to lanyards that do not cost more than $9. There were two restrictions with the pins: retail price for the pin could not exceed $12.50, and wishes could not be used for some type of light-up pin.

One other mention: if you are using wishes to purchase pins, you can only do so at designated places (currently, Pin Central at Epcot, and the pin station at downtown Disney).

Edited to add: 1 wish allows you to purchase one lanyard and three pins.

 

[Scratch42]

Sorry I took so long to thank you but was kinda in the "DARK" these past few days!LOL

I think I will use the wishes for massages instead of pins!

Scratch

 

[Janet2k]

Reflection, what an excellent dining review. We have a thread on the Resorts Board regarding the Silver Plan and it would be wonderful if you would post your info in there for your fellow Dis'ers to see. Here's the link: click here for Silver Plan thread.

 

[Reflection]

Janet2k

I will be happy to add what I can to the the above thread. I also wanted to let you know that I wrote to WDW suggesting that wishes from recreation/dining plans be used for the children's activities at the Grand Floridian. If I can use a wish or two for watermice at the GF or to place my daughter in the Mousekteer Club at the GF; then why can't they be used for the Grand Adventure activities.

Now that my daughter is 10, she has reached the cutoff for the Grand Adventure activities. So, I also included in my letter a request for programs such as this for tweens. I'll post if I receive any substantive response.