Eating is Half the Fun of Going to Disney! Dining Review with Photos - Complete !

[Lilo's Mom]

Disney Dining December 2nd – 8th
Hello to one and all! DH and I took a well deserved trip to Disney December 2nd – 8th, and since all of you helped us plan out our dining, we are going to return the favor by giving you a recap of our dining adventures.
We checked into the Caribbean Beach Resort on Tuesday the 2nd, around 2:30 in the afternoon, picked up our Keys to the Kingdom, and information on the Dining Plan (this was our fourth trip using the dining plan, but the first where the tip was not included, and the appetizer was removed from the plan) and decided we should head over to Epcot since we had a reservation at Teppan Edo at 5:00pm for the Candle Light Processional Dining Package. In an attempt not to ruin our dinner and temporarily fill our empty stomachs we munched on some Pop Tarts on the bus over to Epcot. After a quick ride on Mission Space (no more Orange team for me, thank you very much) and a leisurely walk around World Showcase we made our way over to Japan. We checked in and were seated within 10 minutes with a really nice family. We ordered drinks, Ice Tea for me and a cocktail for DH

Sorry, I don’t remember what this was, and I can’t seem to find a drink menu. DH however loved it.
DH was starving so we ordered the garden salad with creamy sesame dressing and the Crispy Sukiyaki Beef Roll to share. Sorry no pictures here, we really should have grabbed a snack, we attacked the food before I remembered to take any pictures! I will say I was very surprised that DH ordered the Sukiyaki Beef Roll, he is anti-sushi. I guess the fact that it is cooked beef it was ok for him to try, and he was generous enough to let me try a piece, it was very good, and I would definitely order it again. The waitress came and took everyone’s order then asked us if anyone needed forks or if we would like her to make the chopsticks easier for us to use. I opted for the fork; DH went for the “chopstick cheaters”. It was very clever; she put a piece of paper between the chopsticks and wrapped a rubber band around it. Almost everyone at the table her make them a set.
Since the orders were all taken the chef came to prepare dinner.

We had a great time talking to our table mates as we watched our dinner being prepared. The finished product sure was tasty!

They were very accommodating as well, DH doesn’t really like veggies (except peas and corn) so they made his without. When it came time for dessert I wanted the ginger cake and DH decided he would get the soft serve ice cream and we would combine them to make cake & ice cream!
Here we are with the deserts

And the ginger cake by itself

It was a great experience for us, great company, and wonderful food. It will be on our list of places to eat for our September 09 trip!

Coming next Le Ceiler!

 

[TigerKat]

Great start! Your Disney princess is adorable!!!!! Am I seeing correctly...you're going to be at Disney for over a month next year? WOW!!!!

 

[natalielongstaff]

great start, thank you

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I'm very much looking forward to the rest of your reviews. Whatever that drink was, it sure looks tasty!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Great start! Your Disney princess is adorable!!!!! Am I seeing correctly...you're going to be at Disney for over a month next year? WOW!!!!

Thanks! I think Lilo is a cutie too, she was a gift from my daughter.
LOL, that was just a typo, although a month at Disney would be wonderful!

Thanks everyone for reading along!

 

[TigerKat]

Thanks! I think Lilo is a cutie too, she was a gift from my daughter.
LOL, that was just a typo, although a month at Disney would be wonderful!

Thanks everyone for reading along!

I had some MAJOR envy going on.....

 

[Lilo's Mom]

After the Candlelight Processional we grabbed some treats from Kringla Bakeri og Café to have for breakfast. I originally wanted to try the school bread…but I really hate coconut, so I decided to pass and go for the Caramel Danish

And DH went for the cream horn

.

I liked the Danish, but I bet it would have been much better had I ate it when it was hot. DH wasn’t feeling the love for the cream horn, he was expecting a cream filling and he said it was like whip cream. Not to worry, lunch today was at Le Ceiler, our hands down our favorite place to eat at Disney. We usually try to eat there at least twice a trip but alas it was just not to be this time around. We arrived at noon for our 12:15 reservation and ended up getting seated immediately. Our waiter Jeff was absolutely wonderful and made sure that we had plenty of pretzel bread.

DH decided on the Le Ceiler Chef’s Favorites, with the Cheese Soup, Shaved Prime Rib Sandwich on toasted ciabatta, and Maple Crème Brulee. I had a cup of Cheese Soup (paid out of pocket) the Mushroom Filet, and the Maple Crème Brulee. As usual the soup was wonderful!

.

As you can see by the picture DH really enjoyed his sandwich (he managed to start eating before I even had a chance to take a picture...sorry that it is blurry!) although he did feel it would have been even better if had been in a pretzel roll. Can you tell he really has a thing for the pretzel rolls?

My filet was so tender and moist it practically melted in my mouth. I decided against the risotto that is normally served with the filet because I much prefer the cream cheese mashed potatoes. As you can see I also was so anxious to start my lunch I had to have a bite before I took the picture.

The Crème Brulee here is also a favorite of ours, and for my husband the gold standard that all other Crème Brulee must live up too. It’s flavorful and always well prepared.

We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed visiting with Jeff, who told us he had applied to do additional time at Le Ceiler, but they told him that he has to sit out a year and reapply to return. Here is a picture of us that Jeff took.

On the way out we stopped and asked if we could fill out a comment card. Immediately the young lady at the front podium thought something was wrong. I assured her that I merely wanted to commend Jeff for his excellent service. Having worked in customer service I know that people are much more likely to take the time to complain rather than take a few moments to acknowledge excellence, so I wanted to make sure that this trip every opportunity I got to give positive feedback, I would!

We ended the day in the food court at CBR having Chicken Cesar Salads, which surprisingly tasty

And a cookie

Next installment Yak & Yeti and a surprise!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Thursday, December 4th
Since Animal Kingdom is the park we spend the least amount of time in, we decided to schedule Yak & Yeti for an early lunch. We got to the park at 10 and pretty much finished everything we wanted to do by 11:15, so we decided to see if we could get in earlier than our 12:30 lunch time. Surprisingly they were able to seat us within five minutes! Our server was Andreas; he was very nice and extremely attentive. After glancing over the menu we decided that since this would essentially be our big meal for the day we were going to pay out of pocket and get some appetizers. I had the House Salad,

And DH had the Wonton Soup

The salad was very fresh and I enjoyed the sesame dressing that was on it. DH loved his soup and the Wontons, which after I nibbled on a few I decided would make a great addition to my salad, so I added some in. It made a nice change from croutons.

For our entrees DH had the Baby Back Ribs with Chicken Fried Rice

He really loved the Ribs, the Fried Rice he thought was lacking flavor

I had the Shaoxing Steak & Shrimp.

I really should have taken the toothpick out of the steak before I took the picture. It would have given you a better look at the size of the steak, which was actually fairly big. I loved the flavor of it and asked what spices it was cooked with….Andreas told me it was a chef’s secret. The shrimp were tasty as well, and the rice wasn’t over cooked, so I was very pleased with my meal.

At this point I was stuffed, but I really wanted to try the Cream Cheese Wontons, so we each got an order.

Oh my goodness! They were so tasty! And the pineapple and the ice cream made it even better. DH really loved mixing the pineapple with the ice cream; he gave it a thumbs up and decided that this too was going to be a place that we would be coming back to.

After lunch I had an appointment to look at the meeting space at the Yacht and Beach Club. I work for a medical association and a few of my co-workers and I would love to have a meeting there. The trouble is our Executive Director is probably as Anti-Disney as you can get …still we are hopeful that we can convince him that holding a meeting there would be a wise choice. Anyway after our site visit we headed back to our room to rest for awhile and low and behold look what arrived as a thank you for having a site visit!

There was chips, crackers and cheese, cookies, candy, sodas, fruit, CDs. What a surprise! It came in so handy to have snacks for the room. I don’t care what my E.D. has to say, Disney is a class operation, and we really need to hold a meeting there!

Next Sci- Fi Dine In

 

[TigerKat]

What an awesome surprise!

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Awesome surprise! I'm holding my breath for your review of Sci-Fi.

 

[janloz]

We were there 11/20-12/6 and I swear we saw you there. When I saw your pics, I recognized you. I will have to follow your DR to see if we ate at any of the same places.

I also do event planning for our company and didn't think to look at their facilities. Maybe next time.

 

[Lilo's Mom]

We were there 11/20-12/6 and I swear we saw you there. When I saw your pics, I recognized you. I will have to follow your DR to see if we ate at any of the same places.

I also do event planning for our company and didn't think to look at their facilities. Maybe next time.

You think you saw me? Wow you must have a great memory! I arranged my sit visit with one of the Disney National Sales Reps. Here is her information

Ms. Jodie Rapparlie
National Sales Manager
Disney Resort Destinations
401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 595-7742

jodie.rapparlie@disney.com

Jodie set me up with the site visit, which was fabulous! I was so impreseed, many meetings we do are in hotels all over the country( 2009 I have meetings in Las Vegas, Nashville, Chicago, & San Francisco), and usually our information or registration area is set up outside our meeting room on a long table. Yacht and Beach Club has actual registration areas with counters. The meeting rooms were really spacious, and I am trying to push my Executive Director to committ to a meeting there, but given his dislike of Disney it may take me awhile to break him down. But I am not going to give up on my dream of doing a meeting at Disney.

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Friday, December 5th
For a change we decided to have some breakfast today, so we headed over to the food court.
DH had the ham and cheese omelet with potatoes.

Which he told me was surprisingly good, the potatoes made a nice change from hash browns, so he was a happy camper.
I decided to have a biscuit and some grits.

The grits were cold, but thankfully they had a microwave in the food court so I heated them up, added butter, salt and pepper. It was yummy and hit the spot!

Now on to dinner, ever since our trip last year DH wanted to go back to Sci-Fi Dine In. When we were there last August the heat really got to the poor man and he didn’t really get to enjoy his meal. As far as I’m concerned the food at Sci-Fi is average at best, the experience is fun, but it is not one of my favorite places. Yet again we checked in about a half hour early for our reservation, and we were seated immediately. We had the back seat of a car with a family of four that was just about done with their meal. Our waitress, was friendly and attentive, and took our drink order right away, ice tea for me, and diet coke for DH. We decided to share a salad mixed greens salad

DH was disappointed that the salad had so many tomatoes on it, but it was ok with me, so he just pushed them all on my side of the plate. The salad has vinaigrette on it, which was ok, but could have been better.
We both ordered the butcher steak

.
The steak was ok, but the steak at Yak & Yeti was much better. For dessert I ordered the cheesecake and DH had chocolate tart.

The cheesecake had caramel on it, and was surrounded by m & m’s and caramel popcorn. It was very tasty, and the best part of the meal for me.

Now I could be wrong here, but I think the center of the tart wasn’t chocolate, I think it was peanut butter. Whatever it was DH enjoyed it, that and the rotating movie clips on the screen made this meal for him. He wants to go back during our next trip in September 09. We booked that trip with free dining, and have upgraded it to deluxe dining. With more dining on our plan, I will let him make a return trip here…if it was my DD and I traveling, I would skip it, and try something else.

After we were finished at the Disney Studios we headed back to the room…but after about an hour there DH decided he wanted to walk to the Food Court to fill our drink cups. Naturally when we got there he decided we should grab a salad. Sorry no picture of this because I wasn’t anticipating having any more to eat, so I didn’t bring along the camera. We ordered a Greek Salad and another Chicken Caesar. Again the Caesar was good, the Greek Salad, I really didn’t care for. The olives in the salad I don’t think were Kalamata olives, which have been the olives in pretty much every Greek Salad I have ever had. The olives were sliced, green and kind of sweet…and there were so many of them it was kind of hard to try and eat around them. I definitely would not order it again.

Next up we add a person to our plans for Saturday, and that changes our dining!

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Thanks for your review of Sci-Fi!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Saturday, December 6th.
Our oldest DD was engaged to a young man that we just loved, and as luck would have it, they broke up and she married someone else. I am sure that DD would much prefer it if we broke off all contact with her Ex, but it isn’t easy to cut someone out of your life that you have known and loved for 7 years. Since this young man lives in the Orlando area, whenever we are at Disney we invite him along with us. Here is a picture of Brittany and Anthony

I keep teasing Anthony that he should marry our youngest DD, Kelly, so we can keep him in the family! Anyway, Anthony arrived just as we were getting ready to head to the food court for breakfast, so on the way I stopped to see if I could change our ADR at Raglan Road to include him….unfortunately they were not able to accommodate us, so the CM at concierge talked us into eating at Chefs de France, which was a first for us.
DH and I shared a cheese omelet with bacon on the side for breakfast

The omelet was good, although I did like the ham and cheese one from the other day better. After eating we headed off to Epcot for the day. We took a quick photopass picture.

Epcot wasn’t really crowded DH and Anthony were able to ride Mission Space 5 times in a little over an hour. We headed over to Test Track, but it was down, so we grabbed some FastPasses and the boys decided they wanted to eat. So we headed over to Sunshine Seasons.

I had a bag of chips and an Ice Tea...sorry no picture, LOL, you will just have to imagine the chips and the drink! DH & Anthony both had Mongolian Beef with noodles.

They both liked it and said that the beef wasn’t chewy or too spicy, so they were both happy.

Then we decided to take a leisurely stroll around World Showcase until it was time for our reservation at Chefs de France. Along the way we stopped and had some Plum Wine in Japan. I love Plum Wine, we have it all the time at home. After our beverage break it was time to check in at Chefs de France. By the time we made it there and checked in we probably only waited 10 minutes before we were seated. Both of the guys ordered the French Onion soup

Which they ate with a roll

And they both had the half roasted chicken with basil mashed potato, and spicy honey sauce

.
They both liked the soup, but hated the chicken, and especially hated the mashed potatoes. They both declared that the mashed potatoes tasted funny. Maybe it was the basil that they didn't like, I'm not sure.
I had the baked macaroni with cream and gruyere cheese

I really didn’t like this dish at all, first off I expected it to be creamy, it was kind of runny, and the taste was just blah to me.
For dessert the boys had the Crème Brulee (sorry I forgot to take a picture before they decided to devour it). DH enjoyed the Creme Brulee, but not as much as the Maple Creme Brulee from Le Ceiler

And I had the sorbet trio, which I also started to eat before I took a picture

For me the sorbet was tasty and full of great flavor. Before we even left the table we decided this would probably be our one and only time eating here. With so many other great places to eat there are other places we would like to try.

Next, we eat at Kona twice in one day!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Sorry you did not like Chefs...DH and I ate there in April and had the mac and cheese and it was so thick and creamy and wonderful...we also had the chicken and it was awesome but DH didnt like the mashed potatoes because they had a basil infusion...I loved them and ate them all...

We went right when they opened, maybe the mac and cheese sat for a while and the cream and cheese dried out on you?

 

[TigerKat]

Great update!

 

[purpliequeen]

Your reviews are great. Thanks! I look forward to Teppan Edo. Was the ginger cake any good? I always find it so hard to eat dessert (we'll be on the dining plan) in the Epcot restaurants b/c there's so much to nibble on throughout the park and I much prefer Boulangerrie-Patisserie desserts over what they serve in the restaurant.

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Sorry you did not like Chefs...DH and I ate there in April and had the mac and cheese and it was so thick and creamy and wonderful...we also had the chicken and it was awesome but DH didnt like the mashed potatoes because they had a basil infusion...I loved them and ate them all...

We went right when they opened, maybe the mac and cheese sat for a while and the cream and cheese dried out on you?

It is possible that I did get a bad order of mac and cheese. On the menu the description did sound yummy, and I am a cheese fan, so I was anticipating loving the dish. I guess that could be why I was so disappointed. Your DH and mine had the same problem with the chicken dish, the basil infusion. It was just to much for my hubby, and that killed the meal for him.

Great update!

Thanks TigerKat!

Your reviews are great. Thanks! I look forward to Teppan Edo. Was the ginger cake any good? I always find it so hard to eat dessert (we'll be on the dining plan) in the Epcot restaurants b/c there's so much to nibble on throughout the park and I much prefer Boulangerrie-Patisserie desserts over what they serve in the restaurant.

We both loved the ginger cake. It was really moist and the ginger was not overpowering. DH and I have been on the dining plan every trip we have taken to Disney together...we have the attitude that since we have prepaid for the food, we are going to order the dessert, even if we are full. It doesn't mean we have to eat it all, although 99% of the time they are so yummy that we put a large dent in what we ordered. You can always pick a dessert that you can take back to your room and eat later, too. We have a rule while at Disney, cake is an acceptable breakfast when we are on vacation!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Breakfast at Kona & a Short Trip Off Topic

After we said goodbye to Anthony, Bob decided he wanted “real” breakfast. Apparently the breakfasts that we have been eating all along haven’t been real. Since CBR doesn’t have sit down breakfast and we were going to spend the day at the Magic Kingdom, we decided to try to have breakfast at the Poly. When we got there we were told there would be a 45 minute wait…so we grabbed our pager and walked around looking at the Christmas decorations.

A little off topic here....DH and I met and started dating in 1999, and we took our first Disney trip together in 2001 with his kids Brittany then, 17, Anthony(Brit's Boyfriend) 17, and Allen, then 15 along with my daughter Kelly, then 16. The trip was a vacation but also a way for us to see if the kids could get along for an extended period of time...so we rented a house in Orlando and spent 2 weeks there. The kids actually surprised us and made us all dinner one night, and that is when we started to meld as a family. Flash forward to 2002 and the release of Lilo & Stitch, DH and I loved the movie..and the message of Ohana, which basically meant to us that your family is what you make it to be. Valentines Day 2003 we got engaged and April 4, 2004, we had a Hawaiian Themed Wedding in Chicago...complete with a "Ohana Celebration" a honeymoon to Disneyland and Hawaii. As you can probably tell from our dog's name (Lilo) we love all things Hawaiian & Disney.
Here is a picture form our wedding.

Bob & I with the dancers we had at the reception

Part of the floor show the dancers did

And a picture of us for a photoshoot we had on our honeymoon at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Which is funny because it sure looks alot like some of the photopass pictures I have seen of people who had sessions at the Poly! Notice the matching Mickey Aloha Wear?

So why did I suddenly go off on that tangent? When Kelly and I stayed at Pop in the fall, I booked the bounceback offer with free dining at the Polynesian. I have always wanted to stay there, but when I got home, I started to question my decision. DH had been out of work for 18 months before this trip. Did I really want to stay at a deluxe resort for our next stay or did I want to go with another moderate? After walking around we decided to give up the Poly for 2009, and build our bank account back up. DH, really wasn't too happy with CBR, so we modified our reservation and booked Port Orleans Riverside, which is our favorite resort. Now if we suddenly win the lottery...it will be Poly here we come!


Back to food....When the pager went off and we were seated, our server, Donna, ended up being the same one DD, Kelly and I had on our trip in September! Donna is such a sweetheart, she noticed that my husband had developed a head cold so went and got him some extra napkins before we placed our order.
DH had the French Toast with bacon

And I had the Tonga Toast with sausage

For me Tonga Toast is like a little piece of heaven, the bread, bananas and strawberry sauce are so good, and the sausage is mighty tasty as well. Poor DH said, he wasn’t sure if his French Toast was good or not, he was so stuffed up, he couldn’t taste it! Poor guy! The coffee was another story, that he could taste, and he was very happy. I am not a coffee drinker, I can't even stand the smell of it, but DH lives on coffee, and this was the first cup of coffee he had on property that he enjoyed, so that was a real plus for this meal. After we were done eating we got him some cold tablets from the gift shop, and took a stroll around the resort.
Sorry for so much off topic....up next more food!