We got back from our 9-night trip last Monday and, as promised, here we go with our gold plan dining review.
The first 7 nights of the trip were on the gold plan. We planned an extra night before flying home, but Frances happened so it turned into an extra two nights.
All prices below include the 15% tip on the gold plan. BTW, we did tip extra for outstanding service. Anyways, here it goes:
Day 1
Lunch: Tony's Town Square
DH: Breadsticks, Spaghetti & Meatballs, Apple Cake, Tea
DW: House Salad, Baked Ziti, Tiramisu, Tea
Cost: $54.94
Food was better than what we expected. Probably not worth the price, but we hadn't eaten and our flights were delayed, so we ate up. We were seated in the sunroom area, which was not a good thing. As soon as kids start screaming it echoes. Next time, request to sit in the main dining room.
Dinner: Liberty Tree Tavern
DH & DW: Adult Dinner, Tavern Punch (orange smoothie), Tea
Cost: $60.70
This was really good. The food tastes like buffet food, but you can get a lot of what you like. Our waitress was great and didn't rush us. This is a neat experience with good character interaction. Based on that, we would highly recommend it.
Day 2
Breakfast: Chef Mickey's
DH & DW: Adult Breakfast Buffet
Cost: $41.29
Character interaction was good here early in the morning (while kids were still sleepy). The characters are also dressed cute. The food was, well, not very good.
Lunch: Sci-Fi
DH: Marinated Tomatoes, Ham Sandwich, Cookie Monster, Coke
DW: Onion Rings, Rib Plate, Big Bang, Tea
Cost: $65.52
We had to go for the atmosphere, but will never go back. The food was okay - nothing to die for. The desserts were bad. The soft-serve ice-cream they use just didn't taste good. Also, a party of two on the gold plan has a very awkward time here when the family of 4 you are "hijacking" with is not on the same schedule you are. It was frustrating having to be kept on the same sequence. Otherwise, service was lackluster.
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse
DH: Tomato Salad, Fried Chicken, Jack Daniel's Mousse Cake, Tea
DW: Spinach Salad, Filet Mignon, Key-Lime Pie, Tea
Cost: $108.14
Honestly, we were a little disappointed here. Appetizers were good, but the entrees left something to be desired. The desserts were great, but we just couldn't get past the fact that the entrees were ho-hum.
Day 3
Breakfast: Crystal Palace
DH & DW: Adult Breakfast Buffet
Cost: $41.29
Our new favorite character buffet. The character interaction was good and the food was good. Still a buffet, but really pretty good.
Lunch: Cinderella's Royal Table
DH: Tossed Salad, Focaccia Sandwich, Chocolate Cake, Tea
DW: Castle Fries, Barbecue Chicken, Crown Sundae, Tea
Cost: $63.18
Service here was bad, which was surprising with us being on the gold plan. Food was okay, nothing exceptional.
Dinner: California Grill
DH: BLT Flatbread, Filet Mignon, Valrhona Cake, Tea
DW: Goat Cheese Ravioli, Filet Mignon, Valrhona Cake, Tea, Coffee
Cost: $139.70
Wow. This was the highlight of the trip. We were able to sit at our table and casually eat dessert during WISHES. The waitress was wonderful and didn't rush us (the meal took almost 2 hours). Everything was just perfect. A must do.
Day 4
Breakfast: Grand Floridian Cafe
DH: Large Orange Juice, Pancakes w/ Blueberries and Bacon
DW: Large OJ, Coffee, Waffle w/ Strawberries and Bacon
Cost: $40.08
It was breakfast. Good service, but overpriced. Kona Cafe is much better.
Lunch: Alfredo's
DH: Salad, Pasta Trio, Spuma di Cioccolata, Coke
DW: Cheese Pizza, Pollo Parmigiana, Tiramisu, Coke
Cost: $85.42
This meal was pretty good. The waitress was a bit timid, but that was okay. We figure that real Italian food is not exactly what Americans are used to, but that's all part of it. Only complaint is that DW's chicken was kind of dry.
Dinner: Wolfgang Puck
DH: Spinach and Five Cheese Dip, Fettucini Wolf-Fredo, Carrot Cake, Coke
DW: Barbecue Chicken Quesadillas, Filet Mignon w/ 22oz Spiny Tail Lobster Tail, Warm Dark Chocolate Souffle Cake, Coffee, Coke
Waiter: The Lobster Tail DH Could Have Ordered
Cost: $308.26
Where to begin. Our waiter was very talkative and friendly, ready to offer many suggestions. The only problem, and we had heard other stories about this, is that the waiter told us that our meal would be two "wishes" per person. Wrong. DH explained that the gold plan does not have wishes, that's silver. Gold includes everything for 1 meal voucher. Everything was finally cleared through the manager, but not before DH's blood pressure was unnecessarily elevated. Appetizers were excellent. DW loved her entree, including the exotic lobster tail (if you hadn't figured it out, we don't eat seafood - this was DW's one exception). DH did not particularly care for the Wolf-Fredo - should have gotten the filet instead. The waiter went ahead and ordered the lobster tail DH could have gotten and went to the break room and ate it for dinner. Probably a no-no, but he ended up getting something like a $100 tip out of the deal if you count the lobster. We would definitely go back - desserts were to die for. Don't be afraid to ask questions about what's in an entree if you are a little uneasy.
Day 5
Breakfast: Skipped It
Lunch: Rainforest Cafe, AK
DH: Island Bruchetta, Chicken Fried Chicken, Apple Cobbler, Charater Soda
DW: Fried Cheese, China Chicken Salad, Bananas Foster, Character Soda
Cost: $89.31
This was the best service we had from a gold plan perspective. The waitress very helpful, making sure we got everything we were entitled to. Food was really good too.
Dinner: 50s Prime Time
DH: Chili Cheese Fries, Grilled Chicken, Coke, Chocolate Shake
DW: Chicken Noodle Soup, Pot Roast, Coke, Chocolate Malt
Cost: $60.42
We ate here after ditching our PS at Narcoosee's. We got a little tired of gourmet food, filet mignon, and drawn out meals. The waiter was great, but the food was not. DW liked her's fine. When the waiter was teasing DH about not finishing his chicken, the waiter actually had to get a knife to cut it and remarked, "Tough little critter." That about sums it up. The shakes were good, though...
Day 6
Breakfast: Kona Cafe
DH: Ham & Cheese Omelet, Pineapple Juice
DW: Tonga Toast, OJ, Coffee
Cost: $28.97
This was great! We would've eaten there more often. Great food, huge portions, friendly service, reasonable prices - you even get refills on juice. (We couldn't figure out why you pay $3.50 for OJ at GF Cafe and don't get a refill, but pay $1.99 for any kind of juice you want at Kona and get refills. Hmm...)
Lunch: Le Cellier
DH: Cheese Soup, Burger, Sorbet, Coke
DW: Cheese Soup, Chicken Sandwich, Peach Cobbler, Coke
Cost: $58.23
One of the better meals we had. Soup was great, pretzel bread was a great new discovery, entrees were top notch, desserts were good, etc. Also, the basement atmosphere makes the place feel even cooler than it is. Our waiter, Paul, was outstanding. He could tell DW was nervous about the hurricane, so he actually went upstairs to the gift shop and bought a little husky dog to protect her. That was the last thing we expected - that was extreme pixie dust! We would highly recommend here for lunch or dinner.
Dinner: Tepanyaki
DH: Salad, Filet Mignon, Ice Cream, Coke
DW: Salad, Chicken, Chestnut Cake, Coke
Cost: $82.55
Tepan-yucky. This was HORRIBLE. The worst meal we had. Worse than Sci-Fi. Worse than the hurricane sack lunch. We have a couple of privately owned restaurants at home that do this same sort of show, but in a much nicer atmosphere with more flavorful food. The tables are crammed together. The portions are small. The food had almost no flavor without using oodles of ginger dipping sauce and the rice was so sticky you could cut it. The desserts were NASTY. Never, ever again.
Day 7
Breakfast: 1900 Park Fare
DH & DW: Adult Breakfast Buffet, DW had a smoothie
Cost: $47.36
DH was expecting the made-to-order omelet station, but no dice. The food was on the same level as Chef Mickey's, not as good as Crystal Palace. Character interaction was okay, but that calliope will drive you nuts - just look at the Mad Hatter. We would bypass this for Crystal Palace in a heartbeat.
Lunch: Rainforest AK
DH: Fried Cheese, Tuscan Chicken, Shared Volcano, Character Soda
DW: Pita Quesadilla, Full-Rack Ribs (Mojo Bones), Shared Volcano, Character Soda, Coffee
Cost: $104.63
We started out at Rainforest DTD, but they refused to sit us at a table anywhere out of the middle of traffic - supposedly we could only sit at a 2-top even though there were, oh 200 empty tables. Then, the waiter came to the table and had no idea about the gold plan. Put off, we left and headed over to AK where we had had a much better experience. Overall, not quite as good as our first time, but still very good.
Dinner: Jiko
DH: Olive Flatbread, Filet Mignon, Apple Dessert, Tea
DW: Field Greens, Filet Mignon, Sundae, Coffee, Coke
Cost: $124.20
The filet with macaroni and cheese was really good. Everything else we could have done without. This was supposed to be an experience and boy was it. The olive flatbread came out and DH had to move it away. The stench was so bad DH became nauseous. Field greens had some exotic dressing that was not good at all. This is truly a culinary adventure that is not for the weak-stomached.
Day 8 - Hello Frances!
Breakfast: Skipped It
Lunch: Captain Cook's at the Poly
DH: Pizza, Coke
DW: Chicken Strips, Coke
Cost: $17.10
This was possibly going to be our last opportunity to get hot food, so we went for it. We saved our gold plan points on this because we had been told we could use the points somewhere else, even after the plan technically expired because of the hurricane situation.
Dinner: 1900 Park Faire
DH & DW: Hurricane Buffet
Cost: $40.45
This buffet was pretty good - they were using the food prepared for the high-end restaurants at the GF that had closed for the storm. Desserts were truly gourmet! We went ahead and used the gold plan for this because the writing was on the wall - we weren't getting out anytime soon.
Day 9
Breakfast: Snacks in Room
Lunch: Boxed Hurricane Lunch
DH: Ham Sadnwich Special
DW: Turkey Sandwich Special
Cost: $10
Pretty good food, actually. They stuffed a lot in that box. I think most people appreciated that they made these available for such a reasonable price. Two kids could have easily split one.
Dinner: 1900 Park Faire
DH & DW: Hurricane Buffet
Cost: $40.45
This was probably the second most awful meal we ate. No more gourmet food for us. As previously mentioned, we don't eat seafood, but it was practically a seafood buffet! No gourmet desserts left either. We went ahead and used our last points for this, but it was really disappointing.
Day 10
Breakfast: Kona Cafe
DH: Ham & Cheese Omelet, Pineapple Juice
DW: Banana and Pecan Pancakes, Coffee
Cost: $24.00
Yum...
Lunch: Beaches & Cream
DH & DW: Shared Burger & Fries, Shared Chocolate Shake, 2 Cokes
Cost: $21.43
This is a must do on every trip and did not disappoint. Funny how cheap you can eat when you're no longer on the gold plan...
Final Thoughts
Disney really needs to get its act together with the gold plan. We were told different things at different restaurants. Even different waiters at the same restaurant. It is still not clear if you get two beverages (i.e. coke and smoothie) or what the deal is. Some places would let you have a coke and a smoothie. Others said it was a hot and cold beverage, but we think that technically only applies to breakfast. Who knows. We just wish there were a little more consistency.
We had something like 22 PSs on this trip. A little stressful, actually. Disney transportation did not always run like we hoped it would and that was frustrating. We probably would do things a little differently next time - maybe have dinner PSs. OTW we would make breakfast and lunch PSs the day of. We were always early enough for breakfast it would not have been a problem.
You don't eat as much as it sounds like on the gold plan. You end up trying lots of things and throwing most of the food away. The only exception was Califonia Grill, where it seemed like the portion sizes were designed for you to get appetizer-entree-and dessert.
We "spent" almost $1,600 for food. We generally ordered what we wanted, even if it wasn't the most expensive thing on the menu. If you could psych yourself into getting whatever you wanted on vacation, you would never really spend that much (DW threw away 2/3 of her full rack of ribs). That being said, we did go over on the gold plan by about $500 even though we could not get in all the recreation and tour stuff because of the hurricane.
If you have any specific questions, we would be happy to answer them. Sorry this was so long, but we ate a lot of food!
The first 7 nights of the trip were on the gold plan. We planned an extra night before flying home, but Frances happened so it turned into an extra two nights.
All prices below include the 15% tip on the gold plan. BTW, we did tip extra for outstanding service. Anyways, here it goes:
Day 1
Lunch: Tony's Town Square
DH: Breadsticks, Spaghetti & Meatballs, Apple Cake, Tea
DW: House Salad, Baked Ziti, Tiramisu, Tea
Cost: $54.94
Food was better than what we expected. Probably not worth the price, but we hadn't eaten and our flights were delayed, so we ate up. We were seated in the sunroom area, which was not a good thing. As soon as kids start screaming it echoes. Next time, request to sit in the main dining room.
Dinner: Liberty Tree Tavern
DH & DW: Adult Dinner, Tavern Punch (orange smoothie), Tea
Cost: $60.70
This was really good. The food tastes like buffet food, but you can get a lot of what you like. Our waitress was great and didn't rush us. This is a neat experience with good character interaction. Based on that, we would highly recommend it.
Day 2
Breakfast: Chef Mickey's
DH & DW: Adult Breakfast Buffet
Cost: $41.29
Character interaction was good here early in the morning (while kids were still sleepy). The characters are also dressed cute. The food was, well, not very good.
Lunch: Sci-Fi
DH: Marinated Tomatoes, Ham Sandwich, Cookie Monster, Coke
DW: Onion Rings, Rib Plate, Big Bang, Tea
Cost: $65.52
We had to go for the atmosphere, but will never go back. The food was okay - nothing to die for. The desserts were bad. The soft-serve ice-cream they use just didn't taste good. Also, a party of two on the gold plan has a very awkward time here when the family of 4 you are "hijacking" with is not on the same schedule you are. It was frustrating having to be kept on the same sequence. Otherwise, service was lackluster.
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse
DH: Tomato Salad, Fried Chicken, Jack Daniel's Mousse Cake, Tea
DW: Spinach Salad, Filet Mignon, Key-Lime Pie, Tea
Cost: $108.14
Honestly, we were a little disappointed here. Appetizers were good, but the entrees left something to be desired. The desserts were great, but we just couldn't get past the fact that the entrees were ho-hum.
Day 3
Breakfast: Crystal Palace
DH & DW: Adult Breakfast Buffet
Cost: $41.29
Our new favorite character buffet. The character interaction was good and the food was good. Still a buffet, but really pretty good.
Lunch: Cinderella's Royal Table
DH: Tossed Salad, Focaccia Sandwich, Chocolate Cake, Tea
DW: Castle Fries, Barbecue Chicken, Crown Sundae, Tea
Cost: $63.18
Service here was bad, which was surprising with us being on the gold plan. Food was okay, nothing exceptional.
Dinner: California Grill
DH: BLT Flatbread, Filet Mignon, Valrhona Cake, Tea
DW: Goat Cheese Ravioli, Filet Mignon, Valrhona Cake, Tea, Coffee
Cost: $139.70
Wow. This was the highlight of the trip. We were able to sit at our table and casually eat dessert during WISHES. The waitress was wonderful and didn't rush us (the meal took almost 2 hours). Everything was just perfect. A must do.
Day 4
Breakfast: Grand Floridian Cafe
DH: Large Orange Juice, Pancakes w/ Blueberries and Bacon
DW: Large OJ, Coffee, Waffle w/ Strawberries and Bacon
Cost: $40.08
It was breakfast. Good service, but overpriced. Kona Cafe is much better.
Lunch: Alfredo's
DH: Salad, Pasta Trio, Spuma di Cioccolata, Coke
DW: Cheese Pizza, Pollo Parmigiana, Tiramisu, Coke
Cost: $85.42
This meal was pretty good. The waitress was a bit timid, but that was okay. We figure that real Italian food is not exactly what Americans are used to, but that's all part of it. Only complaint is that DW's chicken was kind of dry.
Dinner: Wolfgang Puck
DH: Spinach and Five Cheese Dip, Fettucini Wolf-Fredo, Carrot Cake, Coke
DW: Barbecue Chicken Quesadillas, Filet Mignon w/ 22oz Spiny Tail Lobster Tail, Warm Dark Chocolate Souffle Cake, Coffee, Coke
Waiter: The Lobster Tail DH Could Have Ordered
Cost: $308.26
Where to begin. Our waiter was very talkative and friendly, ready to offer many suggestions. The only problem, and we had heard other stories about this, is that the waiter told us that our meal would be two "wishes" per person. Wrong. DH explained that the gold plan does not have wishes, that's silver. Gold includes everything for 1 meal voucher. Everything was finally cleared through the manager, but not before DH's blood pressure was unnecessarily elevated. Appetizers were excellent. DW loved her entree, including the exotic lobster tail (if you hadn't figured it out, we don't eat seafood - this was DW's one exception). DH did not particularly care for the Wolf-Fredo - should have gotten the filet instead. The waiter went ahead and ordered the lobster tail DH could have gotten and went to the break room and ate it for dinner. Probably a no-no, but he ended up getting something like a $100 tip out of the deal if you count the lobster. We would definitely go back - desserts were to die for. Don't be afraid to ask questions about what's in an entree if you are a little uneasy.
Day 5
Breakfast: Skipped It
Lunch: Rainforest Cafe, AK
DH: Island Bruchetta, Chicken Fried Chicken, Apple Cobbler, Charater Soda
DW: Fried Cheese, China Chicken Salad, Bananas Foster, Character Soda
Cost: $89.31
This was the best service we had from a gold plan perspective. The waitress very helpful, making sure we got everything we were entitled to. Food was really good too.
Dinner: 50s Prime Time
DH: Chili Cheese Fries, Grilled Chicken, Coke, Chocolate Shake
DW: Chicken Noodle Soup, Pot Roast, Coke, Chocolate Malt
Cost: $60.42
We ate here after ditching our PS at Narcoosee's. We got a little tired of gourmet food, filet mignon, and drawn out meals. The waiter was great, but the food was not. DW liked her's fine. When the waiter was teasing DH about not finishing his chicken, the waiter actually had to get a knife to cut it and remarked, "Tough little critter." That about sums it up. The shakes were good, though...
Day 6
Breakfast: Kona Cafe
DH: Ham & Cheese Omelet, Pineapple Juice
DW: Tonga Toast, OJ, Coffee
Cost: $28.97
This was great! We would've eaten there more often. Great food, huge portions, friendly service, reasonable prices - you even get refills on juice. (We couldn't figure out why you pay $3.50 for OJ at GF Cafe and don't get a refill, but pay $1.99 for any kind of juice you want at Kona and get refills. Hmm...)
Lunch: Le Cellier
DH: Cheese Soup, Burger, Sorbet, Coke
DW: Cheese Soup, Chicken Sandwich, Peach Cobbler, Coke
Cost: $58.23
One of the better meals we had. Soup was great, pretzel bread was a great new discovery, entrees were top notch, desserts were good, etc. Also, the basement atmosphere makes the place feel even cooler than it is. Our waiter, Paul, was outstanding. He could tell DW was nervous about the hurricane, so he actually went upstairs to the gift shop and bought a little husky dog to protect her. That was the last thing we expected - that was extreme pixie dust! We would highly recommend here for lunch or dinner.
Dinner: Tepanyaki
DH: Salad, Filet Mignon, Ice Cream, Coke
DW: Salad, Chicken, Chestnut Cake, Coke
Cost: $82.55
Tepan-yucky. This was HORRIBLE. The worst meal we had. Worse than Sci-Fi. Worse than the hurricane sack lunch. We have a couple of privately owned restaurants at home that do this same sort of show, but in a much nicer atmosphere with more flavorful food. The tables are crammed together. The portions are small. The food had almost no flavor without using oodles of ginger dipping sauce and the rice was so sticky you could cut it. The desserts were NASTY. Never, ever again.
Day 7
Breakfast: 1900 Park Fare
DH & DW: Adult Breakfast Buffet, DW had a smoothie
Cost: $47.36
DH was expecting the made-to-order omelet station, but no dice. The food was on the same level as Chef Mickey's, not as good as Crystal Palace. Character interaction was okay, but that calliope will drive you nuts - just look at the Mad Hatter. We would bypass this for Crystal Palace in a heartbeat.
Lunch: Rainforest AK
DH: Fried Cheese, Tuscan Chicken, Shared Volcano, Character Soda
DW: Pita Quesadilla, Full-Rack Ribs (Mojo Bones), Shared Volcano, Character Soda, Coffee
Cost: $104.63
We started out at Rainforest DTD, but they refused to sit us at a table anywhere out of the middle of traffic - supposedly we could only sit at a 2-top even though there were, oh 200 empty tables. Then, the waiter came to the table and had no idea about the gold plan. Put off, we left and headed over to AK where we had had a much better experience. Overall, not quite as good as our first time, but still very good.
Dinner: Jiko
DH: Olive Flatbread, Filet Mignon, Apple Dessert, Tea
DW: Field Greens, Filet Mignon, Sundae, Coffee, Coke
Cost: $124.20
The filet with macaroni and cheese was really good. Everything else we could have done without. This was supposed to be an experience and boy was it. The olive flatbread came out and DH had to move it away. The stench was so bad DH became nauseous. Field greens had some exotic dressing that was not good at all. This is truly a culinary adventure that is not for the weak-stomached.
Day 8 - Hello Frances!
Breakfast: Skipped It
Lunch: Captain Cook's at the Poly
DH: Pizza, Coke
DW: Chicken Strips, Coke
Cost: $17.10
This was possibly going to be our last opportunity to get hot food, so we went for it. We saved our gold plan points on this because we had been told we could use the points somewhere else, even after the plan technically expired because of the hurricane situation.
Dinner: 1900 Park Faire
DH & DW: Hurricane Buffet
Cost: $40.45
This buffet was pretty good - they were using the food prepared for the high-end restaurants at the GF that had closed for the storm. Desserts were truly gourmet! We went ahead and used the gold plan for this because the writing was on the wall - we weren't getting out anytime soon.
Day 9
Breakfast: Snacks in Room
Lunch: Boxed Hurricane Lunch
DH: Ham Sadnwich Special
DW: Turkey Sandwich Special
Cost: $10
Pretty good food, actually. They stuffed a lot in that box. I think most people appreciated that they made these available for such a reasonable price. Two kids could have easily split one.
Dinner: 1900 Park Faire
DH & DW: Hurricane Buffet
Cost: $40.45
This was probably the second most awful meal we ate. No more gourmet food for us. As previously mentioned, we don't eat seafood, but it was practically a seafood buffet! No gourmet desserts left either. We went ahead and used our last points for this, but it was really disappointing.
Day 10
Breakfast: Kona Cafe
DH: Ham & Cheese Omelet, Pineapple Juice
DW: Banana and Pecan Pancakes, Coffee
Cost: $24.00
Yum...
Lunch: Beaches & Cream
DH & DW: Shared Burger & Fries, Shared Chocolate Shake, 2 Cokes
Cost: $21.43
This is a must do on every trip and did not disappoint. Funny how cheap you can eat when you're no longer on the gold plan...
Final Thoughts
Disney really needs to get its act together with the gold plan. We were told different things at different restaurants. Even different waiters at the same restaurant. It is still not clear if you get two beverages (i.e. coke and smoothie) or what the deal is. Some places would let you have a coke and a smoothie. Others said it was a hot and cold beverage, but we think that technically only applies to breakfast. Who knows. We just wish there were a little more consistency.
We had something like 22 PSs on this trip. A little stressful, actually. Disney transportation did not always run like we hoped it would and that was frustrating. We probably would do things a little differently next time - maybe have dinner PSs. OTW we would make breakfast and lunch PSs the day of. We were always early enough for breakfast it would not have been a problem.
You don't eat as much as it sounds like on the gold plan. You end up trying lots of things and throwing most of the food away. The only exception was Califonia Grill, where it seemed like the portion sizes were designed for you to get appetizer-entree-and dessert.
We "spent" almost $1,600 for food. We generally ordered what we wanted, even if it wasn't the most expensive thing on the menu. If you could psych yourself into getting whatever you wanted on vacation, you would never really spend that much (DW threw away 2/3 of her full rack of ribs). That being said, we did go over on the gold plan by about $500 even though we could not get in all the recreation and tour stuff because of the hurricane.
If you have any specific questions, we would be happy to answer them. Sorry this was so long, but we ate a lot of food!
