FAMILY on 6-night DELUXE WINE & DINE -- reviews but not photos

[MississippiMamma]

If people are interested, I am going to try and review our family’s six-night Deluxe Disney Dining experience April 5-11. Our family of five spent an enormous amount of time and energy eating last week, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I know people struggle about whether Deluxe is worth it. We enjoyed the freedom of being able to order anything on the menu without worrying about cost and also being able to try a lot of different things at every meal. We liked sitting down to eat. We decided before we left that we would eat breakfast in our Ft. Wilderness cabin every morning and use the third TS for a signature restaurant or dinner show each evening. It was the right choice for us and made this a very memorable vacation.

When I'm done this will contain reviews for the following places:
Hoop Dee Doo (post 2)
Yak & Yeti (post 3)
Jilko (post 3)
Trail's End for breakfast (post 20)
Hollywood Brown Derby for Fantasmic! (post 20)
Crystal Palace lunch (post 26)
California Grill & Wishes dinner (post 26)
Akershus Princess Luncheon
Tutto Italia dinner
Les Chefs de France lunch
Raglan Road dinner
Wolfgang Puck Cafe lunch
Citricos dinner

We were myself (mom, 42), DH (44), DS (12), DD (10) and DS (7).

I’m not going to review the kids meals that DS (7) ordered. He usually got hot dogs or peanut butter. If he wanted something off the adult menu, we ordered it for him. He seemed to enjoy his food, and we were proud of ourselves for letting him choose PB&J even if we really wanted him to get the kiddie fillet mignon. At least there were many “happy plates” and few “food fights.”

DD (10) occasionally also ordered from the kid’s menu, but they charged us for an adult TS when she did that. Therefore, we usually tried to help her select something from the adult menu that she would enjoy and discouraged her from ordering PB&J.

DS (12) has a teen-aged appetite. When we go out to eat at home we have to discourage him from ordering the $40 steak for budgetary reasons. It was nice to let him have whatever he wanted at every meal. I hope he can get back to the real world!

DH and I also had wine & dine plan. I’m not the wino in our family, and I’m not going to review that either. However, the bottles DH selected were good and we enjoyed that part also. Again, it was such a luxury not to have to fret about spending extra for the bottle of wine.

Anyway, it might take me a few days to get these reviews written and posted, but as long as people are interested, I’ll put them up. I know people enjoy photos, but my pre-teen children would have "died" if I had taken food pictures so I had to pass.

 

[MississippiMamma]

We took our family to see the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue (2 TS). We had reservations for the 9:30 show. It was a great way to start our Disney vacation. The food was good, and we all enjoyed the show. The green salad had a terrific dressing, the ribs were tender, and the fried chicken tasted home-made. The strawberry short-cake was good too, and our waiter gladly brought us short-cake without strawberries for our son who hates strawberries.

 

[MississippiMamma]

We had 11:30 lunch reservations at Yak and Yeti. It wasn’t our favorite Disney meal, but it wasn’t bad. For appetizers we ordered the steamed mussels, pork pot stickers, lettuce cups, and dim sum basket. The lettuce cups were WONDERFUL. Everything else was OK. For entrees we ordered Seared Miso Salmon, Crispy Mahi Mahi, Duck with Anandapur Glaze, and Shrimp Lo Mein. The only thing we didn’t like was the Mahi Mahi. The bread crumbs made it seem like we were eating a fish stick. DD wished that she had ordered the chicken instead of shrimp. DS didn’t like the duck, but the rest of us did. Dessert was better. Both children had Chocolate Brownie Sundaes, DH had the Fried Wontons , and I got the trio of sorbets. None of us had much room for dessert, but we did our best. I thought the wontons were too sweet, but DH liked them. The sorbet was wonderful, especially the mango. Service was good; our waiter was attentive and polite.

After we left the park we had time to clean up for an 8:00 reservation at Jilko. I was a little disappointed with this restaurant, but maybe my expectations were too high. We sat at our table for a long time without water or bread. Then the bread came out at the same time as the appetizers. Our server rushed us, and food showed up at the table in a somewhat haphazard manner. Finally, the tables are laminated. At a 2 TS restaurant, I expect table cloths. Picky, I know. For appetizers we ordered Lamb "Patis", Kalamata Olive Flatbread, Taste of Africa, and Jiko Cheese Selection. We liked everything. For entrees DD ordered Wood-grilled Pork Tenderloin, DS & I ordered the Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon, and DH got Kenyan Coffee BBQ-Braised Beef Short Ribs. I didn’t taste everybody’s, but I thought my steak was a little bland and the macaroni it was served over was under-done. My dessert at Jilko was the best Creme Brulee I had at Disney (and I had it several times). My husband loved his dessert also: Madagascar Vanilla Bean Mouse. The children both ordered Tanzanian Chocolate Cheesecake but it was too rich for them and they didn’t eat it.

 

[Mom2JPL]

I'm going back and forth about getting the deluxe or the reg dp - and seeing how a family of 5 utilizes it is interesting to me; there are 5 of us (although my kids a bit younger, 5, 3 and 2 at time of trip in Nov) but we're a 3 sit down meals a day family too.

Keep up the good work...I can't wait to read the rest!

 

[tiggersmom2]

Thanks for the reviews, I'm enjoying it! I'm also a sans pictures reviewer....I just can't seem to get everyone in the party on-board with the picture idea...lol.

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Looking forward to your reviews! TIA

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cant wait to hear more!

 

[undertheseas]

Anxious to hear more!

 

[TigerKat]

Count me in.....

 

[slavike]

I am so glad to hear about Hoop-Dee-Doo, we haven't done it in years and my 4 year old has never been. He's the perfect age and we were thinking about it in September. With dinner shows you never know about the quality of food but it's good hear a new review!

Look forward to hearing more!!!

 

[suzimar57]

ok, i'm onboard here, too!

 

[John's Mom]

 

[phabric]

Looking for more of your reviews.

 

[disneymom1980]

I'm jumping on board too. We are using the Delux plan when we go in October for pretty much the same reason.......I want us to be able to order whatever we want and not have to worry about the costs.

Great reviews!

 

[tluvstink]

I'm enjoying your reviews. Thanks for taking the time to write them

Terri

 

[wishesUT]

Great reviews! I'm looking forward to more. It is nice not to have to think about the cost of what you're ordering when you're on the DDP.

 

[auntfrannie]

Thanks for taking the time to write your reviews. Both Jiko's and Yak & Yeti are on my list for my upcoming trip in 2 weeks! I'm also doing the deluxe dining; using 2 TS for signature dinners each night and using the remaining TS for either breakfast or lunch. Should be loads of fun!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent.............thanks for posting.

 

[curlz2tite]

Looking forward to more.

 

[MississippiMamma]

DAY THREE – DISNEY MGM (Trail’s End Breakfast & Brown Derby Fantasmic! Package)

After doing a lot of research I decided that we didn’t want to have to worry about getting a good seat at Fantasmic! so we decided to go with a Fantasmic! Dinner Package. With the DDP it costs 1 TS to do a Fantasmic! Dinner Package at Mamma Melrose or Hollywood & Vine; it costs 2 TS to do a package at Brown Derby with DDP. If you’re on the DDP (either Deluxe or regular) and you want to see Fantasmic! I can’t think of any reason NOT to do one of the Fantasmic! Dinner Package. You are assured a seat at the show, you don’t have to go early, and the seats are pretty good. The only down-side is they make you make a very early reservation. The latest seating we could get at Brown Derby was 3:50, so we decided to eat a big breakfast and have a mid-morning snack before our super-early dinner.

For breakfast, we went to the Trail’s End Restaurant at 7:30 a.m. since we were staying in a cabin at Fort Wilderness. We were the first people seated, but everything was ready and on the buffet when we got there. There were a lot of choices. My kids enjoyed the Mickey Mouse waffles. I liked the cinnamon rolls, and the fresh fruit. Our server was a senior gentleman who knocked a full glass of milk over onto DS’s lap early in the meal. Instead of just moving us to another table, he took a long time mopping up the mess with tiny paper napkins. He was nice but a little too feeble to be waiting tables, in my opinion. The coffee was yuck at Trail’s End, but I wound up drinking it every morning anyway because with the Deluxe Dining Plan we had those “resort refillable mugs” and I was too lazy to make my own. Usually I went to Trail’s End, got coffee, and went back to the cabin for cereal or bagels. Trail’s End Restaurant was nothing special – about on the level of Shoney’s at home – but if we had been paying OOP we would have thought the price was reasonable – about what we pay at Shoney’s.

At 3:50 we arrived at the Brown Derby and were seated right away. We loved our server; he was one of the nicest we had at Disney. With the DxDDP you are supposed to get a drink. At many places, they limit your drink choices to soft drinks, tea or coffee. But at some other places, they are more generous. I don’t know if this is a restaurant thing, or a server thing, or what. My kids always wanted a “Virgin Daiquiri,” but I wouldn’t let them order one if I had to pay OOP. At the Brown Derby, the waiter happily brought three virgin daiquiris on the DxDDP. My kids were thrilled. DH had a beer. I let him order it even though it was OOP and he was happy too. (It was just too early in the day for wine!)

DH and I split the Cobb Salad for Two. It came out all fancy like the picture, and they tossed it at the table, but I was distracted by a child and missed the show. It tasted good, although the bacon seemed more like “Bacon Bits” than the fresh, crisp bacon I would expect at a place like that. DS had Blue Jumbo Lump Crab Cake as his appetizer; it was OK. I can’t remember what appetizer DD had. I guess it wasn’t memorable LOL.

For entrees we had Roasted Hatfield Pork Rib Chop, Pan-Fried Black Grouper, Grilled Filet Mignon , and Grilled Atlantic Salmon. Of the four, we probably enjoyed the pork chop the best. DS ordered steak at almost every restaurant, and usually tasted about the same. Not exquisite, but good. The salmon was good, but the grouper was probably better. It had an interesting crust.

For dessert we had a cheese plate (good) and Double Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee, Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower, and Grapefruit Cake. After all the hype, I had high expectations for the grapefruit cake, but it wasn’t all that special. I loved the crème brulee, however. In general, I found crème brulee to be a safe dessert anywhere at Disney. Also in general, I found the chocolate desserts to be much too rich for my family, especially after the huge meals we were eating.

DH and I had cappuccinos with dessert and they were covered under DxDDP. (At Tutto Itaila, later on our trip, cappuccinos were OOP, however.) Like I said at the beginning of this post, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of standardization regarding beverages on the DDP.