DlxDP w/ CL Kicked Our Butts! See us expand before your eyes! 1/19 All Finished!

[emmysmommy]

Great reviews and pictures!! We will be dining at several of the places you did on your trip so I am happy to subscribe and read the rest of your reviews!! Thanks so much!!

Thanks! Well then, I'm happy to share our experience and you'll have to come back and do the same!

CG is on my list of to do's. Hopefully when the kids are bigger DH and I can go there

It really is one of the best places for a romantic dinner. It was supposed to be me and my hubby's anniversary dinner but we kept the reservation anyway and just made it a graduation celebration!

 

[hillo]

You ARE in one of my photos!! At least part of you.

Wow! That's hilarious. I always wondered if I ended up in other people's vacation photos. I immediately had to show my mom. She remembered you two and couldn't believe the coincidence.

 

[emmysmommy]

Well moving on from that amazing coincidence of seeing us at CA Grill....

This was one of my most anticipated breakfasts. Mostly because I had not shared with my daughter that her favorite character, the Mad Hatter, would be making an appearance.

As usual, we were a little early for our ADR but most of our time was spent waiting in line for the pre-dining photos that they then sell to you.

We were seated at a table for two far enough away from the buffet lines that we were not feeling crowded and close enough that we didn’t need to take a long trek to get our food. Perfect!

The characters had not made an appearance yet so we had time to load up our plates.

Here are some of the selections:

Pancakes and french toast w/ bananas foster topping and syrup:

Kid's choices with Mickey waffles, breakfast pizza and eggs:

Here's our choices:

Mine:

and some oatmeal:

And finally my fully loaded carb plate:

Em's strawberry soup:

I don't have a separate photo of Em's food (I must have been too anxious to dig in) so here's one of everything!

I really liked this breakfast and not just for the characters - the food was really good!

I especially liked the made to order omelet station which I don't recall seeing at any of the other breakfast buffets that we tried. I'm a huge fan of Mickey waffles so those are always on my plate. The bread pudding at 1900 Park Fare was awesome - they had vanilla sauce as well for those that like it drenched in more sweet goodness. I had bread pudding at another buffet later in the week and was really disappointed so this one was good.

The fruit and oatmeal were good - not sure how exciting those are but they were good.

I tried Em's strawberry soup and it was ... interesting. Not sure I would want a bowl of it since it was very rich. But it was worth a small taste.

I had not told my daughter that this particular character dining experience included her favorite – the Mad Hatter. We saw Pooh, a very bouncy Tigger, Mary Poppins (with her practically perfect British accent) and then…..there he was …The Mad Hatter! My daughter had a huge smile on her face. She had him sign her lyrics book which was akin to having a rock star sign it. Very cool!

"Practically perfect" Mary Poppins:

We had some good Tigger moments:

We also saw Pooh and Alice but no step-sisters or step-mother.

Before tip, the bill was $44.71. We used 2 dining credit so we had 6 dining credits remaining. We did purchase the photo packet that had (1) 5”x7” and (2) 3”x5” photos for $31.90.

Since this was one of my favorite breakfasts I would definitely eat here again!

Next up: Chefs de France

 

[mimi'sgirl]

Loving your dining review! You have some wonderful pictures of your DD and you!

 

[tinacaplan]

Nice reviews. I'm sorry you weren't more impressed with your food at the California Grill. We had an amazing experience there last February. You and your daughter are lovely! What a great opportunity for you both.

 

[maggiew]

You ARE in one of my photos!! At least part of you.

Were is a shocked emoticon??? We'll just go with this one

At least you didn't go on and on about this troublesome girl at the table next to you ...

Everybody join in ... Its a small world after all!

Maggie

 

[SweetSpot]

The potatoes were slightly sweet tasting. I’m not sure why that was but it took me a few repeat bites to actually confirm my suspicions.

I know! I thought the same of all the mashed I was able to find in the worlds (especially at CR). They used red potatoes that somehow had a sweetness to them. I never met a mashed I didn't like but I couldn't get them down. Even covered in gravy.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Enjoying your reviews. I felt the same way about Cali Grill. The experience was wonderful and I am glad we went once. But food wise, while nothing was bad, nothing was great. DH and I went for our 15th anniversary and after dinner he said we should have gone back to WPE for dinner.

 

[candsmain]

Your reviews and pictures so far have been amazing! You are visiting allot of the restaurants that we are come December! Thanks for Sharing and I cannot wait to read more of your reviews!

 

[emmysmommy]

Loving your dining review! You have some wonderful pictures of your DD and you!

Thanks! By the end of the trip my DD was giving me a look that said "one more picture and I'm smashing your camera!"

Nice reviews. I'm sorry you weren't more impressed with your food at the California Grill. We had an amazing experience there last February. You and your daughter are lovely! What a great opportunity for you both.

I would like to go again and try something else because there were other things like the filet that I think I would like. Oh, and the banana caramel dessert! One day I'll try it again.

Thanks for the compliment - you should see DD's real mother! j/k!

At least you didn't go on and on about this troublesome girl at the table next to you ...

Everybody join in ... Its a small world after all!

Maggie

No kidding!! But speaking of the people at the table next to us.... (I sure hope they are not Dis'ers) I had to take a photo because we were in an amazing restaurant and the ENTIRE family was burried in their phones or Nintendo DS games - no one said anything the entire meal.

I know! I thought the same of all the mashed I was able to find in the worlds (especially at CR). They used red potatoes that somehow had a sweetness to them. I never met a mashed I didn't like but I couldn't get them down. Even covered in gravy.

Strange huh? So it wasn't me. Maybe they think corn syrup makes everything taste better. Not sure but it was an odd after-taste.

Enjoying your reviews. I felt the same way about Cali Grill. The experience was wonderful and I am glad we went once. But food wise, while nothing was bad, nothing was great. DH and I went for our 15th anniversary and after dinner he said we should have gone back to WPE for dinner.

How bad is that when you dine in a Signature restaurant and have counter service on your mind. It wasn't that bad but I can say that my Chipotle burrito I had last night was better than my chicken dish!!


I've gotta load up some more photos for the Chefs de France review. I also need to post an installment on my TR.

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

Note: On the 4th day we changed resorts to the Beach Club where we had CL - so that will be where my observations on having CL and DxDP come in. These installments were just the deluxe dining plan.

 

[msnwithers]

You chose many of the same restaurants we chose for our next trip in 2 weeks!!! I'm excited to hear more

 

[emmysmommy]

You chose many of the same restaurants we chose for our next trip in 2 weeks!!! I'm excited to hear more

How exciting for you... only 2 weeks til Disneyworld! I'll load up some more photos and be back with more!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[basketlacey]

Loving your review so far! Can't wait to hear about the CL part of your trip!

 

[emmysmommy]

We had a 1:00pm lunch ADR at Chefs de France but checked into the restaurant about 15 minutes prior to our reservation time and were seated right away.

Steve was our fabulous French waiter. This was one of Em’s favorite restaurants and while I enjoyed it it wasn’t one of my top 3. Well, except for the cute waiters!

We were started with a baguette and wrapped pats of butter. I didn’t eat much of the bread – it was ok.

Em ordered from the prix fixe menu selections – french onion soup, gratin de macaroni and crème brulee.

Em's french onion soup:

gratin de macaroni:

I ordered the tarte a la flamee alsacienne – translated it is a flatbread with crème fraiche, carmelized onion, and bacon. This entirely too big – it was a huge appetizer which should be an entire meal. It was also entirely too delicious!! I wish I had just ordered an appetizer because the rest of the meal didn’t measure up. I ate about 1/3 of this and stopped only because the entrée was ready for service. (I suppose this tells you that the meal was a bit rushed!)

For my entrée I ordered the quiche Lorraine which was hmmmm…. interesting. I wouldn’t say it was bad, in fact it was rich in nutmeg flavor but weak in the pungent cheese taste department. The crust was fine and the ham was good. It was cooked enough to make it set – no runniness at all. I would probably try something different next time but just to try something new – not to avoid a bad food choice. Oh, I almost forgot that it came with a small mixed green salad – field greens w/ a touch, and I mean just a touch, of some type of dressing. I thought it was ok, not overpowering and nothing special but it got me to eat some veggies!

Em liked her gratin of macaroni. I had a taste and I wouldn’t want to eat that for an entire entrée since it tasted a bit bland.

I had initially indicated to our waiter that I was glad that they had crème brulee on the menu. However, I wanted to actually see the dessert menu before making my selection. Well… no chance of that happening since Steve brought our crème brulee for both of us without further consultation with us mere patrons. I didn’t say a word…I just picked up my spoon and dug in. It was VERY good but again, entirely too big of a portion. Now here’s the thing with me and a good crème brulee – I can’t stop eating it! Even though it was a portion for 2 people (well, maybe not that big but if I hadn’t eaten too much already it would have been perfect), I ate and ate and ate until I had practically licked my dish. I didn’t feel too well after dessert. I was very glad that I had a stretchy skirt on – it served its purpose well.

Creme brulee:

The dude who pushes a cart around with Remy made a brief appearance at our table perfectly timed for when we had completed our meal. It was worth a photo but I can mark that off my list and if it didn’t happen again I wouldn’t be sad.

The total bill was $60.76 without tip and we were down to 4 meal credits remaining.

Next Up: Late dinner at Contempo Cafe

 

[JJ&JHsmom]

I'm in and loving your reviews, can't wait for the rest.

 

[Krisscot]

Love it love it!! I m hungry just reading this!! I can't wait to go. Leaving three weeks from yesterday!!!

 

[TheNewMrsB]

Thanks for this review - we have lunch at Chefs on our last day and since we've never been there it's nice to get an idea of what to expect

 

[emmysmommy]

I'm going to sneak a dining update in here since it should be quick and easy. I really need to update my trip report but this one is so much more fun!

We had spent the day at Epcot and I had a headache most of the afternoon - errrr - we're supposed to be having fun here! Back at the hotel, I laid down to rest and fell asleep for 2 hours. When I awoke, my daughter was now asleep. I still wasn't feeling 100% and I had zero appetite so I cancelled our The Wave dinner reservation.

Even after being awake for awhile we couldn't decide what to do for dinner so the choice with the least effort was to go to Contempo Cafe which was a short walk across the bridge to the Contemporary.

At 9:30 we actually worked up enough effort to leave the room to go get food.

At Contempo Café, they have menu boards with pictures of some of the food items. To order, they have self-help touch screen kiosks. You place your order, get a receipt, pay the cashier, get a pager, and wait to pick up your order.

I wasn’t too hungry and none of the entrees appealed to me so I ordered a kid’s pepperoni pizza with grapes and a chocolate chip cookie while Em ordered a kid’s cheese pizza with grapes and an applesauce. Emily wanted chocolate cake as well so we used a snack credit for that item. I thought about it later and wondered if we should have had the chocolate cake included with the meal since we were on the dining plan but maybe not. I had snack credits to burn so it wasn’t like we were desperately hanging on to them. In fact, at that time I believe that we still had 10 snack credits to use before the end of the next day!

Back to the pizza – it was actually very good. I also really liked the pre-packaged grapes and the cookie. I’m easy to please when it comes to my food palate!

Grapes:

Chocolate chip cookie (It was 170 calories if anyone cares!):

applesauce:

This was the perfect, not-too-heavy meal for late at night. I don't need Signature dining experiences to make my vacation special - just give me a kid's pizza and I'm just as happy!

Snack credit options:

Contempo Cafe cashiers:

Eating area:

Next up: Main Street Bakery

 

[darthtatty]

great reviews, fab idea to take pictures of the ordering screens.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I have heard really good things about Contempo Cafe, we have not been. We are planning on taking a MK break to go over there once. Sounds like there are some different options there that are good and DD8 will like the kids pizza.