Eight Amazing TS Dining Reviews April/May 2009

[jenbear123]

Just returned from WDW a week ago after our April 25th-May 2nd, 2009 stay. We were on the basic Dining plan and were able to take advantage of many of the amazing TS restaurants throughout WDW. Calling at 7am 90 days in advance truly pays off!

Here are the restaurants I will be covering:

1900 Park Fare dinner
Crystal Palace lunch
Chef Mickeys EARLY breakfast
The Plaza Restaurant dinner
Cinderella's Royal Table lunch
Donald's Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House
Coral Reef
Le Cellier Dinner

We also dined "around the world" showcase at Epcot on our last night to use up our remaining counter service credits (there were a lot). I will be covering those after my table service reviews. They will be as follows:

Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Boulangerie Patisserie
Yakitori House
Kringla Bakeri og Cafe (Norway)

Yes, it's not the full World Showcase but we unfortunately ran out of CS credits.

Dining around WDW is something I love to do. I'm looking forward to sharing my passed experience with other "world" travellers!

Updates coming soon...

 

[TigerKat]

Count me in.......

 

[kimgof]

sounds great.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I'm in too!

 

[KatMark]

I'm here for the food.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I'm ready (& hungry!)

 

[lovemickeyshouse]

Can't wait too

 

[hillview]

Subing!
/hillary

 

[LiteBrite]

I'm in!

 

[Terk-1]

Am planning on making adr's at Chef Mickeys, Plaza Restaurant, & Le Cellier, so I'd love to hear your reviews.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[gardengirl628]

Count me in please!!!

 

[jenbear123]

Thanks for all those who have joined so far!

Let me start by explaining my rating system. It's simple. For each review I write, at the end I will give the restaurant an overall smiley rating. It will look like this:

= Horrible food, horrible experience, horrible service, never going back
= so-so food (could be better), little selection, slow service, okay experience, might go back if someone else is footing the bill
= good food, good variety, average service, overall experience enjoyable, would go back
= amazing food, great & personable service, amazing experience, definitely worth fighting for another ADR
= above and beyond service, exceptional food, complete "Disney" experience

I hope this isn't too complicated and makes sense to everyone. If need be, I can always change it. Just let me know!

I also, unfortunately, did not get pictures of every meal we ate. For the reviews that don't have pictures, I will do my very best to describe the food

Now let's get started...

My reviews begin with lunch at Crystal Palace since it was our first ADR of our trip. We ate here Sunday April 26th, 2009. It began with the usual check-in window located to the left of the main doors that lead into the restaurant. Our reservation was for two people: My mom and me. We checked in 20 minutes early so we were given a buzzer and took a seat on one of the benches. We were told that we probably wouldn't be seated until closer to our ADR time so my mom ran off to the little girl's room while I waited with the buzzer. Not 5 seconds after my mom left does the buzzer start going off! Of course the policy is that you cannot be seated until you're entire party is present so I told them that my mom would be back shortly. Once my mom returned, the whole party was present so off we went inside.

Once we walked through the doorway, it opened up into a beautiful, open dining room. There were lots of windows that allowed natural light into the room. There was also a shrubbery (at least I think that's what you call it) shaped into Winne the Pooh and Friends:

I want that in my garden!

We were seated and waited about 5 minutes for our server to come around to take our drink orders. I can't recall if it was a man or a woman server.... probably because we really didn't see much of him/her for the duration of our dining experience. The only time the server seemed to be around is to take our drink orders and to give us the bill. He/she never checked on how our meal was but, alas, I can be understanding of this. It was a mad house in there with Winnie the Pooh and friends roaming table to table, people getting up for pictures, people coming and going from the buffet, etc. For future reference, if you ever have a problem or need something from your server, don't expect it to happen right away. For us, the sluggish service wasn't an issue (we were too hyped up on anticipation for all the characters!) but for some it might be.

The food was, overall, delicious. (Sorry no pictures) There was a decent assortment of cold vs. hot items offered that seemed to suit our (sometimes) picky tastes. We were so hungry at this point that anything tasted good! Mainly I chose salads, cold pasta salad, cous cous, chicken nuggets, salmon, broccoli, mushroom and chicken pasta, and ratattouille. Out of all those, the cous cous was the only iffy thing. It tasted a bit funny but perhaps it was from some sort of herb they had in it? My mom tried the chicken wings but did not finish them as she thought they looked undercooked. Due to a previous bad experience with undercooked chicken, my mom never takes a chance anymore. To me, it looked a little pink but not undercooked. I suppose you'd have to make your own judgment. Dessert was the best part with selections of fresh strawberries, lemon squares (my fav), ice cream, cookies, brownies, and apple cobbler. My mom and I finished every last bit of dessert we chose. Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of the desserts you choose here.

We saw Piglet, Pooh and Eeyore twice before Tigger even came to our table. I was beginning to think we wouldn't get a chance to see him since we were nearly finished our meal. To prolong our time at the table, I kept going to get more food. I was determined to see Tigger! Finally, after much anticipation, he came over and I gave him a big hug.

The interaction with the characters was short but sweet. Since we were only a party of two with no small children, they didn't linger long. For some reason I do not have any picture with Pooh himself. I can only assume they were taken with my Mom's camera.

Overall, our experience at Crystal Palace was really good. If you don't mind the noisy environment with the slight chaos of children screaming with delight of seeing Winne the Pooh and friends, then you will probably have a decent experience here. Also, don't go in expecting top service or attention from your server. With the good food and being able to give Tigger a hug makes the Crystal Palace a constant repeat for every Disney trip we take from now on.

Overall rating

 

[TruBlu]

Great so far.

 

[natalielongstaff]

Great review so far

 

[Cind]

I'm in!

 

[bussellmomof3]

Love the pictures

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Great review of CP, looking forward to more.

 

[medicgirl911]

Anxious to hear more!! Was it just you and your mom for the trip? (I could have just missed that part in your intro)

 

[jenbear123]

Anxious to hear more!! Was it just you and your mom for the trip? (I could have just missed that part in your intro)

Actually, I didn't even give background about this trip! I was debating if I should since this is mainly a DINING report but if you are interested in learning about the trip, you can read my pre-trip report here: Back to the Magic! April/May 2009 or by clicking the link in my signature.

Thank you for those who are following along! It gives me the initiative to keep writing!

Another review coming soon...