Ears to the Food! September 19-30, 2007 - 12 Days on DDP, COMPLETE!

[FirstMagic]

To also answer the ever popular question, “What does one wear to the California Grill?”, this was our solution: the guys put on collared polo shirts and wore longer length khaki (think Dockers) shorts to the parks that day, and they aren’t sandals type guys so there was no question about them showing up wearing flip-flops. I debated about bringing “something nice” and going back to the resort to change, but at the last minute when packing at home, I just decided to bring a travel dress (think easy pack, no wrinkles) along, and threw it and a pair of glitzy sandals into a little tote and took it along to the parks. The tote was only slightly bigger than the mini backpack I carried the rest of the week, so it was just easier to carry it, rather than check it into the lockers at the park and risk forgetting to get it before I left the park to head for the restaurant.

We took the monorail back from EPCOT to the TTC, transferred to the resort monorail and got off at the Contemporary, and I made a dash for the ladies room, quickly changed into the dress and glitzy sandals, and exited to find two charming gentlemen (DH and DS of course!) waiting to escort me to dinner.

We stopped at the California Grill check-in desk, and they gave us a pager, but were ready to take us up to the restaurant in the elevator right away. As soon as we arrived upstairs, they took us to our table, right by the window with a beautiful view of the Grand Floridian and lake, and the Magic Kingdom!

Our waiter, Walter, stopped by and introduced himself, and very nicely asked if we were on the Dining Plan, so that he could explain how it worked at California Grill. And in a supreme Dory moment (that’s Dory from “Finding Nemo”, and if you’ve seen the movie, you know how bad she was at names) I wrote down in my notebook, “Our waiter: HOWARD”. Now just where I got the name Howard after he said his name was Walter, I’ll never know, but I even wrote it down carefully in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Later in the dinner, I called him Howard when I asked him a question, and when he left the table, DH said “His name is Walter.” And I said, “No, it’s not, see I wrote it down and it’s Howard.” DH said, “Then look at his name tag when he comes back.”, which I did, and …. yes, his name was Walter. So I apologized to him for calling him Howard, and he was very gracious and said he’d never even heard me call him Howard, but I think he did and didn’t want to embarrass me.

Time of arrival: 5:30 p.m.
Reservation Time: 5:40 p.m.
Seated at: as soon as they could take us upstairs in the elevator, approximately 5:40 p.m.
Waiter: Walter
Atmosphere: Open kitchen, the decor reminded me of Palo on the Disney Magic, fairly loud and busy
Total with tax: $209.78

This is what we had for our dinner at the California Grill that night:

DH –
Appetizer: BLT Flatbread, with heirloom tomatoes, Nueske’s bacon, provolone, crisp romaine, and lemon aioli $13.00
Entrée: Oak-fired filet of beef, crushed red potatoes with Nueske’s bacon, green beans, teriyaki barbecue sauce $36.00
Dessert: Valrhona Chocolate and Coffee – Warm chocolate cake with molten center, house-made white coffee ice cream and cappuccino anglaise $10.00
Drink: Virgin Pina Colada (included on Disney Dining Plan)
DH’s note: the bacon in the BLT flatbread seemed to be missing; I didn’t notice any in it. The filet was very, very good, a great piece of meat. I liked the dessert, but wished I would have inquired if they had vanilla ice cream instead of the white coffee ice cream, I don’t like coffee ice cream.

This picture of the filet does not do it justice, its too dark. I think these are my DS's hands in this picture, and he ordered it medium and it came out perfectly. And if the portions look small by any chance, keep in mind the plates are incredibly large!

The Chocolate Valrhona.

DS –
Appetizer: Herb grilled chicken flatbread, with romaine, feta cheese, tomatoes, and cucumber yogurt $12.00
Entrée: Oak-fired filet of beef, crushed red potatoes with Nueske’s bacon, green beans, teriyaki barbecue sauce $36.00
Dessert: Banana and Butterscotch “Buzz” – caramelized bananas and butterscotch custard stack with caramel sauce $10.00
Drink: Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri (included on Disney Dining Plan)
DS’s notes: really heavy amount of romaine on the flatbread, overall it was quite good, but a ridiculously large appetizer for one person. The filet was very good, probably one of the best two steaks I’ve ever had. (Note: the other “best steak” comes later in the dining review). The dessert was ok, but not great.

The fried plantain on the Butterscotch Buzz kept wanting to tip over and required a steady hand for the picture!

Me –
Appetizer: Double-Crunch Rainbow Roll Sushi – cobia, salmon, tuna, tempura crunch and tobikko $19.00
Entrée: Wild Alaska King Salmon with Fingerling Potatoes, Crispy Bacon, Baby Spinach and egg vinaigrette $32.00
Entrée: Dessert: California Grill’s Cheese Board with five different kinds of cheese: Ciabot served with apple chutney; Appleby’s Farmhouse Cheshire served with candied marcona almonds; Clochette served with a honey comb; Corsu vecchiu served with raisins on the vine; Hubbardston Blue served with apricot paste (and also some little slices of bread, perhaps date bread) $17.00
Drink: Virgin Pina Colada (included on Disney Dining Plan)
My notes: The sushi I had was very good, and tender. DS took one, but I had the rest, and it would have been good to share with more people, since they were large and there were quite a few on the plate. The salmon was quite good, but with the sushi as an appetizer, I almost had too much fish for one night, I should have chosen a different entree. The cheese was a delight – fun to sample each cheese with its pairings.

The salmon, taters, spinach, etc.

The cheese board - isn't this a fun presentation!

I asked Walter if I could keep the cheese listing so I could refer to it as I ate the cheese, he said I could keep it and also brought me the other two menus (appetizer/entrée and dessert) for the evening as a souvenir.

Was this restaurant worth two table service credits? I believe one TS credit was worth it just for the view, and the other for the food! Service was excellent, non-intrusive but there when we needed something. Walter was very helpful when he saw me taking photographs of the food, offered to take our pictures, we took a picture of him, and a nearby table in the spirit of the evening even offered to take our picture with Walter! The sushi chefs posed for a picture when I admired their work, all-in-all, a fun atmosphere.

I wanted to watch Wishes (fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom) from the deck of the Contemporary, so after we finished dinner, we took the elevator back downstairs, looked around the Contemporary for a while, then rode the monorail around the resort loop before returning again to the Contemporary, where we showed our night’s dining receipt to the elevator attendant and she took us back up to the CA Grill and we went out to the deck to find a place to stand out on the deck shortly before 9 p.m., when the fireworks were supposed to start. But it started to lighting and the rain was coming, and a waiter came out and told us the fireworks were being postponed until 9:30, so we went in, took the elevator back down and waited on some couches near the CA Grill’s reception desk. At 9:20 we peeked out to see if the rain had stopped and again showed our receipt to the elevator attendant and went back upstairs, and when the door opened at the CA Grill, we could hear the “Wishes” music, it had already started! So we went back outside, navigating around puddles from the rainstorm, and watched the rest of the show from the deck.

Its definitely different watching the fireworks from that vantage point, technically it is interesting to see where the fireworks are coming from, and I’m glad we had the opportunity to view it from there. After the show, we went back down in the elevator (we were almost on a first-name basis with the lady running the elevator at that point!), and decided to walk back to the Magic Kingdom, where we caught the bus back to our resort. A long walk, but it helped us walk off some of our dinner!

Would we return to the California Grill? Definitely! The guy’s steaks were very good, and we enjoyed our evening there.

 

[FirstMagic]

I had bought tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party for tonight, and we had originally planned to go to the MK at 4:00 and save a park ticket for our departure day, but our airline moved our return flight up several hours, so we wouldn’t have had much time to check out and go to a park, so we decided to go to the MK earlier today and just use the park ticket, so I booked a late lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern.

Since we only used two CS credits yesterday, DH and I decided to pick up a breakfast at Pop’s food court to take back to the room to share. The lines at the stations seem long, but they moved quickly, and the chocolate chip pancake platter seemed interesting.

For one CS credit we received:
Four chocolate chip pancakes
One sausage patty
Three strips of bacon (on other days they put two strips on the platter though)
One pint of strawberry milk
16 oz. Orange Juice

We ate, went swimming, and then got ready and went to the Magic Kingdom, where we had a chance to do a few rides before our lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. We’ve eaten here several times before, and the last time my DH had really enjoyed the Pot Roast, and was looking forward to having it again.

Reservation time at LTT: 2:45
Arrival time: 2:30
Seated: 2:45

After we were seated and given a chance to look at a menu, one of the cast members stopped by our table and explained that our server would be with us shortly, but that he’d been given four tables to serve at once and was a bit swamped, and offered to answer any questions we had about the menu, and explained that we were dining in the Paul Revere Room.

When our waiter came to our table we ordered:

DH –
Declaration Salad - field greens and vegetables tossed with roasted garlic buttermilk dressing $3.99
New England Pot Roast - braised beef in a cabernet wine and mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes and garden vegetables $13.99
Beverage: Coke
DH’s notes: the roast beef is a generous piece of good meat, nice and tender, cooked well and not overdone, not fatty. The salad was fine, but not memorable.

DS –
The Sandwich Heard Around the World - Grilled turkey panini with provolone cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, and cranberry spread on multi grain bread with tavern fries $10.99
Beverage: Coke
Comments: DS seemed to enjoy the sandwich, but didn’t remark on it, so it probably wasn’t overly special.

Me –
Maryland Crab Cake - pan-seared blue crab cake on fire-roasted corn succotash with tartar sauce $7.49
Butter Griddled Pound Cake - served with warm pecan caramel sauce and vanilla bean ice cream $4.29
Beverage: water
My notes: The crab cake was good; I really enjoyed the portion of succotash served with it. We all shared the pound cake, and it was very, very good. DH and I had made the mistake last time we dined there of both ordering a dessert, and it was way too much to eat with a meal, so sharing the pound cake worked well. It was a hot day out and it diminished our appetites somewhat, we were more thirsty than hungry. The crab cake appetizer was really enough to fill me up.

Our waiter was somewhat distracted, and I had to finally flag him down and ask for refills on our beverages. He said he’d be back with refills, then returned again and asked what we were drinking, he’d forgotten, but he returned with our glasses filled.

I also asked the waiter if we could have some dinner rolls, it seems this place does not automatically bring a bread basket, but only on request. We LOVE their dinner rolls there and finished the whole basket.

The restaurant was almost empty except for the four tables our waiter was taking care of, but the other cast members were busy preparing for the evening character meal, and as we exited the restaurant, families were coming in to be seated for the dinner meal.

I had decided to pay out of pocket for this meal and not use a Table Service credit. When looking at the receipt as I’m writing this report, I notice we weren’t charged for the beverages! Whether our waiter forgot to put them on the bill, or if he didn’t put them on the ticket because he forgot to bring us refills until I asked, I’ll never know.

Subtotal: $40.75 + $2.65 tax = $43.40 + tip

Would we return to Liberty Tree Tavern: Yes! We enjoyed the food there as much as we have before, and it’s a nicely themed restaurant. Our waiter was nice, he just had a lot of tables to take care of at the same time.

After enjoying a few more rides, we used two Snack Credits at the Aloha Isle for (ta dah!):

Two Dole Whip Floats: $3.98 x 2

A Dole Whip is a good thing, a Dole Whip Float is an even better thing.

The Mickey’s Halloween Party officially started at 7 p.m., and we had a great time, we had never been to it before and I really wanted to see the Headless Horseman ride down the street, and we were all quite impressed! After viewing the first parade and fireworks, I noticed a sign outside of Pinocchio’s with their menu items for the night, even though I didn’t remember seeing that it would be open for the night of party on the flyer they gave us when we got our wristbands. It wasn’t crowded like it usually is. DH said he wasn’t hungry at all and DS said he could maybe eat a little, and I figured if we didn’t eat then, we probably wouldn’t have anything to eat until the next morning. (Unless we wanted to raid our trick or treat sacks!) So the guys sat down and I went up to order, for one Counter Service credit:

Pepperoni Pizza Meal – small pizza with a side salad - $7.89
32 ounce Coke - $2.39
Cannoli (as our dessert choice) - $3.59

Total: $13.57

Time of dining: 10:03 p.m.

What we really wanted most was the coke, but DS and I split the pizza and the canolli.

The pizza was ok, just Disney pizza, which usually isn’t too thrilling, but it’s edible.
Neither DS nor I were too wild about the canolli, DS thought it tasted kind of weird, and I took my half and ate it on the way back to the parade route to see the Headless Horseman’s ride for the second parade.

Would we return to Pinocchio Village Haus? We’ve been trying to eat here several times on our last trips to WDW, but it was always too crowded and the register lines too long (came at wrong time of the day), we thought the menu items were interesting and it’s a cute place, so yes, we’ll try to eat there again sometime.

 

[dmja716]

Great reviews.
Looking forward to more.

 

[famof4]

Enjoying your reviews. Looking forward to more.
Lindsay

 

[Treacle44]

Great reviews and pics, looking forward to the rest.

 

[my3disneygirls]

Enjoying your reviews. You are so detailed. I laughed about HOWARD/Walter. I am lousy with names and I could see myself doing the same thing. Unfortunately two out of my three children suffer the same affliction.

 

[FirstMagic]

Thanks everybody for your encouragement, nice comments, and your patience as I post our dining experiences a day-at-a-time, writing this certainly brings back some yummy memories!

My original plan for dining was to try and eat lunch early, by 11:00 a.m. if possible, so that we’d be interested in a mid-afternoon snack, and then be looking forward to a dinner in the evening. As you can see by my posted dining times, that early lunch plan usually never happened, so we often ended up sharing two counter service meals between the three of us, and usually weren’t even interested in using our daily quota of snack credits! Keep in mind too, it was rather hot during our vacation, and this cut our hunger somewhat too.

After our late night at Mickey’s Halloween Party the night before (we closed the Magic Kingdom), we slept in this morning, and didn’t arrive at our park for the day, Animal Kingdom, under after noon. We had not ridden Everest before, and were eagerly anticipating riding it, so we got a Fast Pass for it and then headed off to have lunch. Where to eat? Our old favorite, Tusker House, was closed for its conversion to a buffet restaurant. We shall miss it in its old incarnation!

A few years ago DH and I had our one and only experience with Flame Tree, after hearing many wonderful reviews of it, and our experience was not a good one. Usually we order different items, usually by personal choice, or at least, when trying a new restaurant, to cover our bases if one item isn’t good, then we’ll eat the other, but that day at Flame Tree we both ordered the Pork Sandwich, and it had this weird mushy texture and odd taste, and we ended up having only a few bites before ditching them in the trash bin, wondering if there was something wrong with the food, or if other people were crazy for liking the food here.

But the good reviews of Flame Tree kept coming, so I suggested ONE MORE TRY. The lines at the order windows looked daunting, but DH found one he thought looked shorter than the others, so we had a chance to peruse the menu while we waited. The bad thing about Flame Tree is that there is no indoor seating; the good thing is that the outdoor seating areas are divided up so it doesn’t seem so crowded, and they are charming and well-themed.

Again, we shared two Counter Service lunches:

DH –
Beef Sandwich served with baked beans $7.29
Dessert – Chocolate Cake $3.59
Large Coke $2.39
DH’s notes: For a counter service meal, the beef sandwich was really good! The little chocolate cake was good too!

DS –
1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs served with baked beans and corn muffin $8.99
Dessert - Key Lime Pie $3.59
Large Sprite $2.39
DS’s notes: About the best ribs I’ve had anywhere, I can’t think of any I’ve liked more! The key lime pie was decent.

Total - $30.08 with tax for both meals
Time of dining: 1:00 p.m.

We all liked the little chocolate cake; it was very dark chocolate, which I like. These are included with counter service meals at a lot of locations, so I’ve heard of people getting tired of them, but they are fairly little and between the three of us, we each had a couple of bites, which was enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but not enough to get too much of it. I thought the key lime pie was good, it reminded me of an old (and saying this will surely date me!) favorite at the Adventureland Veranda in the Magic Kingdom. That location has been closed almost forever, but I used to love their little key lime pies and remember them fondly.

I agree with DS’s assessment of the ribs, they really were good! We liked them very well as they were, we didn’t even need to use bbq sauce. I had a couple of ribs and we split the corn muffin, which was a nice little side. DS didn’t like the baked beans very much, so I ate most of them. DH also shared some of his beef sandwich with us so we could try it.

All in all, we didn’t want to eat too much at this point, since we had Fast Passes coming up for Everest. We had a lovely view of Everest while we were dining, and the lake in front of us with the Disney characters coming by on the boat. The ceiling fans overhead in the little pavilion we were eating in kept us fairly cool too.

Will we return to Flame Tree? As you can see from our review, we finally made peace with Flame tree, really liked the food for a counter service choice, and will most definitely return! (as you will see, in a review a few days from now)

I thought for sure we’d have some kind of snack that day at the AK, but between several rides on Everest, attending a showing of Finding Nemo, and a safari ride, we didn’t take time to snack, and as evening drew nearer, we didn’t want to ruin our appetite for the evening’s meal at:

Boma

We took our time leaving the Animal Kingdom after it closed at 5:00 p.m., caught a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, freshened up and walked around the lodge to view the artifacts, and out back to see the animals, then headed downstairs to check in at the desk for Boma.

Arrival time: 6:22
Reservation time: 6:40
Seated at: 6:40

The hostess noted that I was checking in rather early, but we had seen everything in the lodge we wanted to, and just wanted to sit down a while and wait until they had a table ready for us.

When our buzzer went off, the hostess led us to a nice table for three by the window, and although there was greenery right outside by the window so we couldn’t see much, the table was somewhat more isolated from the buffet area and we were thankful for being seated there.

Our waitress: Lindsay
(with assistance from, and I’m sorry I didn’t write his name down, but think it was Halil)
These two did a great job of taking care of us, clearing our plates, making suggestions on what they recommended on the buffet. Our drinks were refilled promptly.

Total for three buffet Table Service meals: $77.97 + tax $5.07

I remembered reading that a DISer had asked if they served the breakfast drink Frunch in the evening, so when my drink order was taken, I asked if I could get it and was told “Yes!”. I’d always wanted to try it, but although we’d dined twice before at Boma, it was always for an evening meal, never breakfast. I liked the Frunch, but it was rather sweet.

We had all eaten at Boma right after the Animal Kingdom Lodge had opened, and DH and I had eaten there a couple of years later, so we knew it had a lot of variety. They had several good soups, and we found that each of us chose a different one, I tried a carrot soup our server recommended and really liked it. The prime rib carving station has several different sauces, be sure to look for them.

Will we return to Boma? We enjoyed it, but the guys and I agree it probably won’t be on our next trip, since we’ve been here several times, we might want to try another restaurant first.

After we left Boma, we went out to the AK Lodge bus stops, and tried to figure what our best transportation option was to get back to Pop Century. We figured we could take an EPCOT bus and get there before 9:00 and beat the exiting Illuminations crowd, and it didn’t take long for an EPCOT bus to pull up.

While waiting for the Pop Century bus at EPCOT, there was a nice lady and her daughter in front of me in line, and when we got on the bus, my seat was right by theirs, and when she set her bag on her lap, I saw a lime green Mickey on her keychain! So I asked if she is a DISer, and she said she is, and that her daughter is, and the lady across the seats from me said she also is, so we all had a nice chat on the way back to Pop. They asked if I was going to the Glow Party, and I had no idea what that was, I guess I spent too much of my pre-trip DIS reading time on the restaurant boards! They invited me to the party and said if I didn’t have glow items, that somebody would most likely share with me. It was such a nice invitation, and after I got back home and saw the pictures from the party I really wish I had gone! DH encouraged me to go, and we saw them gathering at the pool when we went to refill our mugs, but when I got back to the room I was just too tired to go out again and I got ready for bed and was soon catching zzzzzzzzs. Anyway, it was nice to meet some fellow DIS board people!

 

[FirstMagic]

When I first told DH about the Disney Dining Plan, he said it sounded great, but I knew he was skeptical, and the first few times we said “Please ring this as a Counter Service” or “Yes, we’re using the Disney Dining Plan”, we always wondered, “WILL IT REALLY WORK?” So far, we had no trouble using the Dining Plan, but today that was going to change.

Today was our planned day at Disney MGM, and we arrived late morning and DS and I wanted to ride the Tower of Terror before we ate anything. I had told my guys that we’d get a light breakfast at the park, so after the Tower, we headed down the street to Starring Rolls, which I had heard had a good Counter Service lunch and knowledgeable employees. When we walked in, we immediately spotted some rice krispie bars, a favorite of DS and saw the little purple snack symbol on the sign by them, so we wondered if they might be included in a Counter Service breakfast. I asked a lady at the coffee counter what constituted a Counter Service breakfast at Starring Rolls, and she said it included a pastry, a fruit, and two drinks. I asked if the krispie bars were included, and she said no, just the pastries and pointed to the pastry selection.

We chose a cherry turnover, an orange from the fruit basket, and a bottle of strawberry Quik and a bottle of orange juice from the cooler. When we got to the register, I asked the clerk to ring our selections as a Counter Service meal, and we said we’d also like one of the rice krispie treats rung up as a snack credit. She said the krispies weren’t included on the snack plan, and I said “I thought I saw the Snack symbol on the sign.” And she said no, they weren’t, so DH said “Oh ok, we’ll just pay for the krispie bar then.”

Total for Counter Service of turnover, orange, milk, and OJ: $9.01
Total paid out of pocket for rice krispie treat: $3.28 + .22 tax for total of $3.50
Time of dining: 10:41 a.m.

We took our tray out to a table and before I put away the receipts, I took another look at them and saw the cashier had rung up our Counter Service as four snack credits instead! Now, we did have a lot of snack credits at the time, but we also had quite a few Counter Service credits too, since we’d been splitting lunches. I told the guys I’d go back in and see if I could get her to correct it.

I told her what had happened, and she said she couldn’t do anything about it, and said she’d have to have somebody else fix it, that I should go back outside and she’d come and get me when the other person could fix it. I was starting to think this was getting to be a bigger deal than I had planned for it to be and that I should just forget it, but I had barely sat down when she called me from the doorway to bring my receipt back.

The guy who came to help looked at my receipt and said “She is right, that’s four snack items, not a Counter Service.”, and I said “But I asked when I came in, and I was told I could choose these items to use for a Counter Service.” He said “Who told you that?” and I pointed to the lady at the coffee counter, and he said “No, it probably won’t do any good for me to ring this up as Counter Service.” So I smiled and sweetly said “Could you please try?” At this point he wasn’t very happy, but he took my receipt and re-rang it up and it came out as a Counter Service, and he showed me that the four snack credits that had been taken away were restored.

The breakfast was ok, but we left with less than warm and fuzzy feelings for Starring Rolls.

After experiencing some more attractions, we figured we’d better catch lunch. MGM is the one park where I didn’t have a list of counter services places I really wanted to eat at (except Starring Rolls, which we had for breakfast), so we looked at the menu at the ABC Commissary and passed, Studio Catering Company and passed on that too, and finally ended up where we usually end up, the Backlot Express. We usually survive WDW on burgers and chicken strips, and this was day four and we hadn’t even had any of those yet, and usually by this many days at the park we’re up to our gills in Disney French fries, but again, we had not had any of those yet. So we were due for Disney Burgers and Fries.

It was really crowded, and we had to scout for a while to find a table, but we wanted to eat inside because we had just been waiting for the Back Lot tour and it was cancelled because they said bad weather (rain) was coming.

Again, we shared two Counter Service lunches:
Time of dining: 1:50 p.m.

DH –
Double Cheeseburger - with French fries $6.89
Dessert - Marble Cheesecake $3.59
Medium Coke $2.09
DH’s notes: The cheeseburger was… a cheeseburger, it was ok. The marble cheesecake was really good though!

DS –
Chicken Strips served with French fries $6.69
Dessert - Strawberry Parfait (no sugar added) $3.59
Medium Sprite $2.09
DS’s notes: standard fast food, decent chicken strips. We all liked the strawberry parfait. There are only two desserts here, so either you get cheesecake or the no sugar parfait.

One thing you gotta love about the ambiance of the Backlot Express, it’s like eating in a prop warehouse! At least you have some stuff to look at while you munch! I had originally even considered going all the way over to the Beach Club Marketplace to avoid eating fast food at MGM, but it was just easier to stay at the park and pick what we believed the least of possible dining evil for this meal.

One big happy... tray of food. The cheeseburger, chicken strips, fries, drinks and desserts.

It did rain off and on that afternoon, and around 6:30 that night, with the Minnie Mouse drawings we had created at the Animation building tucked under our ponchos, we made our way out of MGM to the bus stop and determined that the Transportation and Ticket Center bus was our best bet to get us to the Polynesian (mainly because it was at the stop already) for our dinner that evening at –

Kona Café –
We’ve eaten at Kona for breakfast and several lunches before, but had never had dinner there. The menu looked like it had something for all of us, and the reviews for it were favorable, and it’s always delightful wandering around the Polynesian.

Reservation time: 7:10 p.m.
Time of arrival: 7:00
Seated at: 7:30
We walked up the stairs to the second floor to get to Kona and had to wade our way through a sea of people waiting for Ohana, checked in at the Kona podium, and tried to find a somewhat out of the traffic pattern place to wait to be seated. Some seats finally opened up at the coffee bar (which isn’t used in the evening), so we at least had a place to sit for a half hour until our pager went off. We could see that Kona was very busy.

We were seated at a table for three back by the coffee bar.

Our waiter: Thuy
Thuy was very, very busy, but he was pleasant and took good care of our table. When he took our drink orders, he explained that we could have a smoothie on the Dining Plan, which sounded good enough to nix my plans to order a press pot of Kona Coffee. Here’s what we ordered:

DH –
Caesar Salad - crispy romaine lettuce in creamy Caesar dressing with Pecorino Romano $5.49
Char Crusted Filet Mignon - mashed yukon gold potatoes, asparagus and a 5-spice mushroom sauce $25.49
Chocolate Macadamia Nut Tart - chocolate tart shell with chunks of macadamia nut and chocolate served with vanilla ice cream and caramel rum sauce $5.99
Strawberry Banana Smoothie $4.29
DH’s notes: The Ceasar Salad was ok, the filet was really good, the tart almost too dense and rich.

DS –
Sticky Wings - crispy wings in a garlic glaze with a tangy mustard drizzle and toasted sesame seeds $7.99
Beef Teriyaki - 10 ounce sirloin strip, grilled with pineapple teriyaki sauce, mashed Yukon gold potatoes, and stir-fried broccoli florets $22.49
Caramel-Banana Crème Brulee $5.99
Strawberry Banana Smoothie $4.29
DS’s notes: The wings were just ok, but I’m not a big hot wing fan. The beef teriyaki steak was very good! The crème brulee was good, but over the course of Disney Dining I think I had five crème brulees and none stands out that much.

Me –
Lump Crab Cakes - pan-seared lump crab cakes with Asian tartar and pineapple relish $10.49
Shrimp and Scallops - panko breaded shrimp and pan seared scallops with sticky rice and ponzu, spicy guava-passion fruit and wasabi cream sauces $20.49
Kilauea Torte - an explosion of warm liquid chocolate inside a brownie volcano $5.99
Strawberry Banana Smoothie $4.29
My notes: the crab cakes were good; they reminded me of the chicken croquettes my mother used to make, for some reason. I wish I had ordered the Coconut Almond Chicken, a friend had recommended it to me and while looking at the menu, I forgot about it and was swayed by the scallops and shrimp. They were ok, the dinner portion of these was certainly quite large (for me), but once again, I kind of doubled up on the seafood with my appetizer and entrée. I tried a piece of DS’s teriyaki sirloin, and it was very good, he also gave me some of the broccoli that was doused in the teriyaki sauce, which helped green up my dinner a bit. DH had also piled his asparagus on my bread plate, but I tried one and it tasted sadly out of season and I didn’t eat any more of them. The Kilauea Torte was good, we all liked it better than the macadamia tart, but I ordered this to share with my chocoholic DH. I tried some of DS’s caramel-banana crème brulee and I really liked that!

Thuy also brought us out a round loaf of the complimentary bread, which is mildly sweet, and served with absolutely heavenly macadamia nut butter. We all loved this and had to restrain ourselves from eating too much and keep us from enjoying the rest of our dinner.

Sub-total: $123.28 + tax 8.02 for total of $131.30

The Kona Café’s atmosphere is what its name is, a café, its not a fancy restaurant. The restaurant did quiet down more as our dinner progressed, although they still were seating people. We had planned to go to the Magic Kingdom for evening Extra Magic Hours after we ate, but by the time we finished eating we were rather tired, and didn’t feel it was worth it to go to the park for an hour or two, so we caught the monorail from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom, then took the bus back to Pop Century.

Would we return to Kona Café? We’d go back anytime, just for the bread and butter alone!

 

[dmja716]

Love your reviews. Looking forward to more.
Great pictures and descriptions.
Thank you.

 

[FirstMagic]

Finally, a day where we ate lunch early enough to also enjoy an afternoon snack!

Today was an EPCOT day, and with a stop at The Land to ride Soarin’, we were well poised to dine at:

Sunshine Seasons at The Land
Time of dining: 11:15 a.m.

DH –
Black Forest Ham and Salami Grinder
Beverage: Chocolate Milk
Dessert: Chocolate Torte
DH’s notes: Good eats at The Land!

DS –
Turkey and Muenster Cheese on Foccacia with Chipotle Mayonnaise
Beverage: Chocolate Milk
Dessert: Fruit Tulip
DS’s notes: The Turkey Sandwich is awesome, I’ve had it many times!

Me –
Full Moon Sushi
Beverage: Orange Juice
Dessert: Strawberry Shortcake

We’ve all eaten at Seasons before, so this was a definite Counter Service stop for us, with all the variety, we knew we would all find something we liked. We all used a Counter Service credit here, since we were eating early and hadn’t had a big breakfast. I also figured the sushi I got wouldn’t be too filling, but even with sharing a couple with my son, I had enough to eat. These were pre-packaged sushi, just like I’d buy at Super Target, but a nice change from sandwiches.

When it came to choosing desserts, I asked the lady at the bakery what we could choose from for our CS dessert, and she nicely said “Anything in the case!”, so it was fun to choose from the variety available after being limited to usually two choices at other counter service locations. My son was happy to spot a fruit tulip, a favorite of his from Fountainview, when they used to serve coffee and pastries. DH spotted a chocolate torte, quite fancy and delicious, satisfying to a chocolate lover. My strawberry shortcake was more whipped cream than the traditional shortcake, a bit too sweet and too much whipped cream for me, but it was still good.

Seasons was rather busy even at this time of the day, we found seating, but there weren’t a lot of tables open.

Would we return to Sunshine Seasons? We would, and we did on this trip! There just aren’t that many fast food places in Future World beside this and the Electric Umbrella, unless you want to include that pizza stand by Test Track. Pasta Piazza is long gone, and so is Plain and Simple (is that the correct name? or was it Good and Simple?) at Wonders of Life. Ooops. Wonders of Life is basically gone too. Future World could really use another fast food option.

Total bill at Sunshine Seasons: $44.00

When we heard that Fountainview was going to reopen, we were happy to hear the news. It has always been a favorite of ours, and we missed stopping there for coffee and pastries and watching the fountain show. I told my family that it was now an ice cream place, and that snack credits could be used there, so DH put a stop there on the MUST DO list.

Fountainview
Time of dining(snacking): 3:00 p.m.

DH and I each had a chocolate shake
DS had a strawberry shake

Total with tax for three ice cream shakes: $12.78

These were very good, made with Edy’s ice cream. I wish they also offered malts, which I prefer, but the shake was fine too.

Our evening meal tonight was at:

Spoodles
Reservation time: 8:50 p.m.
Time of arrival: 8:35 p.m.
Seated: 8:40 p.m.
Server: Keith

We originally had a reservation here at 5:00, but I’m glad I could change it to a later time. Unfortunately, the later time meant we’d miss Illuminations, but it seemed the only time we could get a seating was either 5:00 or 8:50. We took a boat from the International Gateway to Boardwalk and got there about 8:15 since I was hoping we could get seated earlier than our reservation time, but a juggler was performing on the boardwalk and we stopped to watch him, then stopped to watch a magician, so I actually checked in at the podium at 8:35. We had barely sat down in the lobby with our pager when it went off, so I was glad we had come early, since we were kind of tired and ready to eat.

Keith did a wonderful job of taking care of us, making recommendations, and beverages were magically refilled before we noticed they were empty. There was something about how he treated us that made us feel like family in the restaurant, rather than just paying customers.

DH and I had been at Spoodles once before for breakfast when they still had a buffet, and had wonderful memories of it. When I told DH I had booked Spoodles for dinner, he smiled and said “Yum….Spoodles….breakfast….” But I have to confess, this was one restaurant I was worried about, especially after a late menu change here. (A lot of menus changed at restaurants from the time I booked them back in April until our September trip). I’m glad I didn’t cancel this reservation though!

I’ve read complaints that Spoodles is very noisy, and I can see what they might be taking about. It has an open kitchen, wood floors, and nothing that I could see that was particularly noise absorbing. When we were dining it wasn’t that busy, there were some open tables, and no small children in the area or boisterous parties of people, so the noise level wasn’t bad at all.

This is what we ordered:

DH –
Mediterranean Dips - with toasted pita, marinated olives and almonds $8.99
Wood-grilled Pork Chop - with white bean cassolet and tarragon-chive pistou $19.99
Spoodles Dessert Sampler - (Serves 2) $11.99 (DH and I split this)
Beverage: Lemonade
Comments: DH didn’t really see any appetizers he particularly wanted, so he asked me to choose something. I went with the Mediterranean Dips, and I hoped one of the dips would appeal to him. The pita bread was nice and warm, the presentation of the dips on little bowls on an arched carrier was nice (I wish I had taken a picture!), and we could barely dent the portions of the dips they brought us. Ordering this was a bit of overkill with the complimentary bread and olive oil, but I think this would be a great appetizer for a large group to share or if everyone didn’t have an appetizer. Keith explained what all the dips were when he brought it to the table, and there was a little bowl of olives and almonds too (which I got by default, being the only olive eater in the family).

DS –
Grilled Lamb Kebabs - with chick pea salad and harissa $7.99
Oak-fired Steak Kabobs - with multigrain pilaf, balsamic red onions and harissa $22.99
Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee $6.99
Beverage: Orange Soda
DS’s notes: I was a little wary, I hadn’t had really good lamb before, but these grilled lamb kababs were great! The steak kabobs were very good also.
Comments: If only they had a dessert kabob, DS could have had a three kabob meal!

Me –
Garlic Shrimp - with preserved lemon and parsley $9.99
Wood-grilled Pork Chop - with white bean cassolet and tarragon-chive pistou $19.99
DH and I split the dessert sampler which included: Chocolate Apricot Pistachio Cake, House-made Gelato (Almond flavor), Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee, White Chocolate Orange Cake.
Beverage: Large Glass of Milk
My notes: The garlic shrimp appetizer was incredibly good, I could have had this for my meal and been entirely satisfied. I would definitely order this again and hope to see it on the menu next time. I was uncertain about the pork chop and bean cassolet combination, but the pork chop was very good, quite thick, lightly smoked. But the cassolet! I would gladly forego the pork chop just to have more of the bean cassolet, I thought it was very tasty. I’m glad we could split the dessert sampler, it was fun to try small portions of more desserts, rather than commit to one large dessert. We all tried everything on the sampler platter, as was our intention when we ordered it. The orange cake was my favorite, and I got most of the gelato by default (not a flavor my guys like, but I do).

Keith also brought out a basket of complimentary bread, with olive oil to dip it into. The bread was very good, and again, we had to restrain ourselves not to fill up on it before our food arrived.

All in all, this turned out to be a very good meal.
Total: $123.53

I had originally planned to do the EMH at MGM after Spoodles, but we were rather tired. With MGM being open late though, I planned to catch the bus back to Pop from MGM rather than go from Boardwalk to Downtown Disney to Pop. After exiting Spoodles, we went to the Boardwalk boat dock and saw several people already waiting for the boat to MGM, which we figured to be a good sign. If nobody is waiting, we figure a boat has just come and we missed it! So, we got in line, and waited. And waited. We sang “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, all 50 verses (just kidding!), and waited some more. Three boats for the resort to EPCOT transit came and went while we waited. Finally, the boat to MGM came. At least when we got to MGM, the bus stop for Pop was one of the closer ones (due to change, they keep moving them around, it seems) and it was a short ride back to Pop Century.

Would we return to Spoodles: DS gives an enthusiastic YES! I think this was a great use of a Table Service meal, the food was quite good and we had a nice server, which makes a favorable impression for a restaurant. I think the menu choices were a bit limited for DH’s tastes, but with the pork chop on the menu, he was quite satisfied, and he loved the dessert sampler.

 

[whogirl'smom]

Great reviews! This is helping me get over the post-Disney blues, since we got home last week. I thought the DDP rocked!

 

[TigerKat]

Love to hear good reviews of Spoodles!!!!!

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

i really enjoyed your reviews - we are going to wdw in november and have adr's at boma, california grill, spoodles, raglan road, le cellier, grand floridian cafe and kona -- you are reviewing most of those so it has been great to read your comments and see the pictures! thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences!

 

[FirstMagic]

Great reviews! This is helping me get over the post-Disney blues, since we got home last week. I thought the DDP rocked!

Writing the report helps my post-Disney blues too, its making my trip last a bit longer! I'm trying to finish it before I forget too many details and it all fades into a tasty memory.

I'm glad you had a good experience with the DDP!

 

[FirstMagic]

i really enjoyed your reviews - we are going to wdw in november and have adr's at boma, california grill, spoodles, raglan road, le cellier, grand floridian cafe and kona -- you are reviewing most of those so it has been great to read your comments and see the pictures! thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences!

It sounds like you are in for some good dining experiences! My review of Raglan Road is coming up in a couple of days. We didn't get to eat at Grand Floridian Cafe (we didn't even make it over to the GF this trip.... "this trip" as in "We're going to have to do another trip!") and I gave up asking for Le Cellier after asking the Dining Reservations people a million times if they had any openings. I'm sure they felt like I was asking a million times.

I hope you have a good trip and Bon appétit!

 

[wilma-bride]

Loving your reviews - thanks for posting

 

[FirstMagic]

I had planned to have breakfast at the Main Street Bakery in the Magic Kingdom this morning, having read this was a good place to use a Counter Service credit for a meal. I had forgotten what my fellow DISBoard people had reported they could get for breakfast items, so I asked the man behind the counter when my turn came up. He said “One pastry, or something like the French Toast loaf, a sandwich, and a drink.” I wished I had paid more attention on the boards what other items people were requesting, because I wasn’t quite interested in a sandwich, and hadn’t really looked at my watch to see that it was already lunch time. So I said “Ok, I’ll take a French Toast Loaf and…” and he said “And you get a sandwich, want a Ham and Cheese?”, so I said “OK.”, just to keep the line moving and figured a sandwich wouldn’t make a bad breakfast item either. That’s the bad thing about the Main Street Bakery line (the same with the Boulangerie Patisserie in France in EPCOT), if you choose something you see early in the line, you just might find something you like better farther in the line! It would be nice if you could have one line pass just for viewing, and another for choosing.

He asked if I wanted coffee with my items, and I said “No, I’d like milk and some ice water”, so he chose a bottle of milk and handed me my tray.

Time of eating: 11:22 a.m.
Total cost: $14.00 (estimate, I wasn’t paying enough attention at the register, but DS thought that was a close guess)

We hadn’t been to the Main Street Bakery since they extended the seating area, and we found it nice to have more tables and have the glass blowing place moved to another spot. As I was cutting the French Toast Loaf into three pieces, DS son was unwrapping the sandwich and said “This is a $7.50 sandwich!” and sure enough, there was a price tag for $7.49 on it. DS rounds up. It seemed like a high price for a sandwich, which consisted of four triangles, but it was packed very tightly with ham and cheese, and even with splitting it, we had a nice breakfast. It was a good sandwich, for a cold, packaged sandwich. We all liked the French Toast loaf too. I only realized after I opened the bottle of milk that it was white milk, and I probably would have chosen flavored milk for my guys if I had thought about it, but they said white milk was fine with them too.

Would we return to Main Street Bakery? A definite yes! It’s usually crowded, but has a good selection.

After our “brunch”, we headed toward Adventureland, where I saw a sign on the old Adventureland Verandah that said Captain Jack Sparrow was inside for pictures, so I dragged my guys along inside. I wasn’t seeking a picture with the good captain so much as wanting to see Adventureland Verandah again, it had been a favorite of mine and I still miss it as a lunch spot. Actually, it was cool inside, and decorated nicely in a pirate theme, and the posted wait of 20 minutes was actually quite a bit less. DS and I got our pictures taken with “Captain Sparrow”, but DH politely bowed out of the photo.

After the photo op, we exited and lo and behold! We were right by Aloha Isle, and we couldn’t pass up another opportunity to have a Dole Whip. Since we had just had breakfast, we decided to share one and use one Snack Credit.

Aloha Isle
Time of snacking: 12:06 p.m.
Cost of Dole Whip Float: $3.99 + tax

This adequately filled any gaps that breakfast might have missed, and we headed off in a pirate and pineapple haze to do a few more rides before we arrived at our chosen lunch spot:

Columbia Harbor House

DH said he could eat some chicken at CHH, so proposed to DS that they share the chicken strips, but DS said he really wanted the fish, so they shared the chicken and fish basket and each got what they wanted.

DS and DH –
Captain's Special - Fried Chicken Strips and Fish with French Fries $7.09
32 ounce Coke
Chocolate Cake
Comments: The guys said the chicken and fish were “ok”, nothing extraordinary though

DS –
Side order of cole slaw - $.99 (paid OOP)
Comments: DS had never tried cole slaw until a couple of years ago when I got a side of Cole Slaw at CHH, he tried it, and now is a cole slaw fan, so he said he was going to get some. When he got to the counter to pick it up, the Cast Member asked him if he was sure that was all he wanted and he told the lady yes, it was great cole slaw and he was sure that was all he wanted, but I guess she worried he’d go away hungry, and gifted him a chocolate chip cookie too, which he enjoyed. So I guess that was kind of a spur of moment “Dream” prize?! That was very nice of her to do this, and DS did appreciate it.

Me –
½ Sandwich and Soup combo: Anchors Aweigh Sandwich - white tuna with lettuce and tomato and bowl of Bowl of Vegetarian Chili $7.49
32 ounce Diet Coke
Chocolate Cake
Comments: I was looking forward to the tuna sandwich, I’d heard a lot of good things about it, the bread was a nice multi-grain but was a bit dry and I wasn’t overly fond of it, I guess I like the tuna sandwich I make more, tuna sandwiches can be very subjective! I chose the vegetarian chili over the clam chowder, I didn’t think my guys would eat chowder and thought they’d at least be interested in sharing the chili. DH wasn’t interested in it, but DS ate most of it, since the half tuna sandwich filled me up. The soup seemed more like a minestrone without pasta to me, it was ok, but not really to my taste.

But we all liked the little chocolate cakes!

When I was finding a table to sit at, I noticed the family at the next table getting up to leave and putting their items to throw away on their tray, and they had a little unopened chocolate cake that they left sitting on the table, I suppose they hoped the next people to come along would claim it. The Cast Member who was bussing tables in the area came along shortly and the little cake got trashed. I guess you might as well just find somebody to gift it to if you can’t eat it!

Time of dining: 1:59 p.m.
Cost of two counter service lunches: $28.27 (not counting the cole slaw)

It wasn’t too busy in the restaurant when we dined, and the wait to put in our order was next to none.

Would we return to Columbia Harbour House? Of course, it’s always a favorite of ours, we like the theming inside and enjoy listening to the accordion “sea" music that’s playing in the background. I’d probably try the tuna sandwich again, if the bread was moister I think it might be better, and I might even try and scout some mayo to perk up the sandwich a bit. The soup and sandwich combo seemed like a lighter and healthier option than fried foods, and I’d certainly go for that again. Next time I might try the chowder.

We had a later lunch because we also had a later dinner reservation that night at:

Coral Reef

Reservation time: 7:40 p.m.
Arrival time: 7:25 p.m.
Seated at: 8:15 p.m.

We thought about going over to Innoventions, but figured there wasn’t much we wanted to do in there that wouldn’t take too long, so we’d just go in to Coral Reef and check in a bit early. When I got to their counter, I was advised they were running really late, and we probably wouldn’t be seated until at least a half-hour past our reservation time. We were given a pager, but told its range didn’t extend any further than the inside waiting area, and if we stepped outside, we might miss our page. So that left us little choice but to hang out inside and wait it out. We did find some waiting area seating further past the check-in area, where if we craned our heads, we could see inside and see the tanks, so between looking at what we could see of the tanks and conversing among ourselves, we waited our turn to be called.

Finally, our name was called and the hostess called our name and came to seat us. She apologized for the wait, but I wasn’t too surprised since I’d heard this restaurant could get backed up, and since I heard a lot of people go up to the check in and say “Our reservation was an hour ago, but we had a hard time getting here.”

We were led to a table in the front row of the top tier, which was fine with us. I’d heard horror stories of people getting mobbed if they were up by the tanks. We could see the tank fine from where we were, and soon were introduced to:

Our server: Bung
Bung did a very fine job of taking care of us, although we could see he had a lot of tables to take care of, on different levels. We asked him how difficult it was to take care of several levels and he good-naturedly joked with us that he didn’t have to do exercise at home! He gave us some menu recommendations and took our drink orders and said we could have smoothies on the Dining Plan too. We’d had a chance to peruse the menu while we were waiting to be seated, and this is what we had for dinner:

DH –
Caesar Salad with shredded parmesan cheese and croutons $5.99
Grilled NY Strip Steak - served with potatoes au gratin, and broccolini $31.99
The Chocolate Wave - with brandied cherries $7.99
Coconut Freeze (non-alcoholic smoothie)
DH’s notes: The Caesar salad was served as four large romaine leaves, which I had to cut up, rather weird. I’d rate the salad as just so-so. The steak was an excellent steak and the potatoes were good. The broccolini were “donated” to my DW. She and I also traded desserts.

DS –
Sea and Land - Grilled shrimp with cucumber salad and BBQ beef skewer with creamy polenta $9.49
Grilled NY Strip Steak - served with potatoes au gratin, and broccolini $31.99
Key Lime Tart – (didn’t get the price on this item)
Strawberry Freeze (non-alcoholic smoothie)
DS’s notes: I liked the appetizer and the steak, although not as great as Kona’s steak or the fillets I had at other restaurants, was still good.

Me –
Sea and Land - Grilled shrimp with cucumber salad and BBQ beef skewer with creamy polenta $9.49
Blackened Catfish - served over pepper jack cheese grits, with smoked tomato compote, balsamic glaze $20.99
Baileys and Jack Daniel's Mousse - topped with a ganache and chocolate cigar $7.99
Coconut Freeze (non-alcoholic smoothie)
My comments: I was planning on having the Lobster Soup here, but went with the Sea and Land, I was having fish for an entrée and the beef skewer sounded good. It was a good appetizer, not exciting, but both the shrimp and beef were good. I’m glad I ordered the catfish entrée, it was so different than any other thing I had at WDW, and it was a nice change. Warning: it’s rather peppery spicy, so if you don’t like foods with heat you might not enjoy it. People who routinely eat spicy hot foods probably won’t notice though. The catfish and grits was a nice combo, and I’d love to have this again. We all tried each other’s desserts, and we found we didn’t like what we had originally ordered as much as we liked each others dessert, so DH got my Mousse and I got his Chocolate Wave. I was amazed at just how “brandied” the cherries that came with the Wave were, they tasted like they had lived their lives in alcohol –WOOOO! Three were enough!

I think we had bread with our meal, I can’t remember for sure now and I don’t have anything in my notes about it.

Total cost: $186.48

Bung gave us a fish watching guide, so we could ID what was swimming by in the aquarium. Our favorite was the Goliath Grouper; he made many passes by the window. It was fun watching the fish and the big turtle that occasionally swam by. It was quite loud in the restaurant, as I’d heard it would be, but with the low lighting and fish tank, it’s a lovely place to dine.

I had originally hoped when our reservation was for 7:40, we might get done with dinner in time to make it to Illuminations, but with not even getting seated until 8:15, I knew this wasn’t going to happen. I kind of wondered if some people didn’t just linger at their tables until Illuminations time, because around 8:50, there was a sudden panic of people leaving, waiters scurrying with checks, etc., and the restaurant suddenly become quiet. We smiled blissfully and enjoyed the rest of our meal.

As we were exiting the restaurant, we decided to use the rest rooms at Coral Reef, and I had to laugh, for the restaurant being nicely decorated, the ladies room looked just like the one in the Living Seas attraction, nothing fancy at all.

When we got outside, it was amazingly quiet, since it was rather late and Illuminations was long over. The gulls on the fountain were still crying “Mine! Mine”, but nobody else was around. We exited EPCOT and went to the Pop Century bus stop and took the bus back to our resort.

Would we return to Coral Reef? A definite YES from DH, an “I suppose” from DS, and another YES from me, if not for the food, for the chance to watch the fish, it seems we never get enough time in The Living Seas. The food was definitely good, and we had a nice waiter, the only downside was the long wait to be seated.

Notes on keeping notes -

This is a picture of the little notebook and pen I had in my purse, to write notes about our dining, keep track of prices, etc.

I felt it was well-themed to the task! The Tink pen lights up too, I thought it might be handy in darker restaurants.

We originally started off, way back at Wolfgang Puck Cafe, with the idea to rate each item on a 1-5 basis. It just seemed too difficult to rate between a 4 and a 5, and we thought about going to a finer point scale of 1-10, then just scrapped the whole rating idea.

It was difficult enough when ordering and when the food came, to jot down a few details, I'm a slow eater anyway and I had to eat rather than write!

I'm glad I did note some things like when we arrived at the podium and when we were seated, and I usually managed to write down what each of us ordered, although I didn't always get the price noted.

This was my first attempt at doing anything this detailed for our dining, so it was a learning experience. I did get some sighs at our table when I brought out the camera to take pictures of our food, but now after we're home, DH says next time he won't mind me taking pictures, it makes a nice photographic souvenir.

I'd definitely recommend that you keep your receipts in case you need to make adjustments. A later post will you tell you why I say this. I kept our receipts on an ordered pile on a shelf in our room, next time (and there will be a next time, right?!) I'll bring one of these along to help keep things in order:

I put our receipts in one of these little coupon holders when I got home, to help in organizing things for writing this review, but wish I had thought to bring it along, I could have put the daily receipts in each section of the folder.

 

[momtoccc]

Thanks for the great reveiws. We also have a 7:40 ADR at Coral Reef with the idea of hitting Illuminations afterwards. After reading that the restaurant is always running late I will have to scrap that plan. I'm trying to find another night for Illuminations. I like your idea of sitting and enjoying the restaurant after everyone leaves.

 

[FirstMagic]

Thanks for the great reveiws. We also have a 7:40 ADR at Coral Reef with the idea of hitting Illuminations afterwards. After reading that the restaurant is always running late I will have to scrap that plan. I'm trying to find another night for Illuminations. I like your idea of sitting and enjoying the restaurant after everyone leaves.

I'd definitely have a back-up night for Illuminations with that 7:40 for Coral Reef. It takes about 10 minutes just to walk from Coral Reef to World Showcase, and I know I couldn't have run on a full tummy!

I hope you enjoy you dinner at Coral Reef as much as we did!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Thanks for the great reviews. I'm really enjoying reading them.