Having Annual Passes means infinite Disney trips, right? *COMPLETED* 6/5 California Grill Brunch

[disneyAndi14]

Great reviews, you are eating at all my favorites! Yak and Yeti, Plaza, Ohana, and BoG. V&A looks divine, never been there. I travel with a teenager so won't be happening any time soon so loved looking at your food and review! Glad you have power now!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Love The Plaza! We have dined there twice, and both times were fantastic, the last time being in July...

 

[FSU Girl]

Great reviews, you are eating at all my favorites! Yak and Yeti, Plaza, Ohana, and BoG. V&A looks divine, never been there. I travel with a teenager so won't be happening any time soon so loved looking at your food and review! Glad you have power now!

I'm glad I could review all your favorites One day you should try Victoria and Albert's. Just so you know anyone 10 and up is allowed to dine there, so you could take your teenager. Although I know I wouldn't have appreciated the restaurant as much when I was younger, but I have seen many young adults dining there. I'm glad I have power too thank you

Love The Plaza! We have dined there twice, and both times were fantastic, the last time being in July...

It was great I can't wait to go back. Those milkshakes alone would have me going back

 

[ariane37]

they had a show going on outside with Captain Jack Sparrow so we watched that until our window opened.

This show is so fun, my boys did it a couple times when they were younger and loved getting to "meet" Capt. Jack and become honorary pirates

I think this guy looks exactly like Johnny Depp, still not sure it wasn't him LOL

He always does! And I always get a bit too excited

I got the Philly cheese stake and it was really good.

This is what Steve had in Aug. and really enjoyed it. Yes, it's huge!

My boyfriend got a burger and said this tasted really good.

Both boys got this and loved it. The Plaza has great food for inexpensive (Disney) prices. MK is not my favorite park as far as TS restaurants go with the exception of BOG, so I do like this as an option when you aren't looking for something fancy.

After dealing with Irma I agree you're in need of a vacation! I'll look forward to those reviews and I hope you have a great time

 

[suse66]

Your latest review has definitely put the plaza on my must do list! So glad you came through Irma ok and I am sure you are looking forward to a little R&R with your MNSSHP trip!

 

[FSU Girl]

Both boys got this and loved it. The Plaza has great food for inexpensive (Disney) prices. MK is not my favorite park as far as TS restaurants go with the exception of BOG, so I do like this as an option when you aren't looking for something fancy.

After dealing with Irma I agree you're in need of a vacation! I'll look forward to those reviews and I hope you have a great time

I like that the Plaza is something you can just walk up to without needing a reservation, but I agree MK is lacking in TS restaurants. I can't wait for my next trip, should be a lot of fun, I'll be posting soon

Your latest review has definitely put the plaza on my must do list! So glad you came through Irma ok and I am sure you are looking forward to a little R&R with your MNSSHP trip!

I never even knew about the Plaza until I started reading the dining reports here, it's definitely a hidden gem. Thank you, I can't wait for my mini vacation

 

[nancy155]

So glad you are safe and I can't imagine in that heat being without electricity. Oh my.

Your review of V&A makes me want to go again! I so LOVE their food and the experience. Have you ever tried the caramelized Banana gateau? IT IS TO DIE FOR!! I dream of that desert from there.

As always your reviews do not disappoint!

 

[FSU Girl]

So glad you are safe and I can't imagine in that heat being without electricity. Oh my.

Your review of V&A makes me want to go again! I so LOVE their food and the experience. Have you ever tried the caramelized Banana gateau? IT IS TO DIE FOR!! I dream of that desert from there.

As always your reviews do not disappoint!

I'll never take A/C for granted ever again.
I have not had the caramelized banana gateau. This time was the first time I ordered something besides the chocolate souffle lol. I was considering it, but now you're making me definitely want to try it the next time I go.
Thank you

 

[nursejackie]

I ate at Yak & Yeti last year for the first time. I chatted to my waitress explaining I'd come along to have the lo mein, since it had been removed from the local cafe menu the year before. I was then informed the chef can do a beef lo mein, even though it wasn't on the menu. It was delicious and have an ADR for December to relive the dream.

 

[FSU Girl]

I ate at Yak & Yeti last year for the first time. I chatted to my waitress explaining I'd come along to have the lo mein, since it had been removed from the local cafe menu the year before. I was then informed the chef can do a beef lo mein, even though it wasn't on the menu. It was delicious and have an ADR for December to relive the dream.

I agree their Lo Mein is really good. Enjoy your trip in December

 

[FSU Girl]

Trip 4 - 9/28-10/1
Contempo Cafe

After the hurricane and everything this trip was a welcomed vacation. It was interesting seeing how Orlando did during the hurricane, there were small details where trees had fallen, but overall Disney World looked great. So when I first booked this trip everything was different. I had the Yacht Club booked and lunch at the hibachi in Japan at Epcot before going to the party. Pretty much everything I had booked I changed. When my boyfriend decided we should go to Magic Kingdom on Sunday since I got Be Our Guest lunch reservations, I felt like being at an Epcot resort would be a pain when we were going to Magic Kingdom two days. So I saw a room become available at the Contemporary and switched. Then the hurricane happened and I was very stressed and saw a Theme Park View room at Bay Lake Towers become available and decided to book it. I was a little sad because the price for Yacht Club was a great deal and the BLT room was ridiculously expensive, but I ended up in love with this room.

We drove up Thursday night after work. My boyfriend was doing his best to get us to the hotel in time to watch the fireworks from our balcony (which we thought were at 9pm and not the actual 8pm) and we actually made great timing with no traffic and got to the hotel at 8pm. We were both pretty shocked when the fireworks started going off. The man who greeted us at front of the hotel said it was a great way to welcome us. We did not get a text about our room so we had to go through the check in process, but we were up at our room only a few minutes later and caught most of the show from our balcony.



We were on the 9th floor and had this amazing view from our one-bedroom villa.



After the fireworks ended we decided to go over to the Contemporary's quick service for dinner. We were both starving at this point since we hadn't eaten anything since 12pm. It was easy to get there, we went down to floor 5 of BLT and walked across the bridge to the Contemporary. You end up on floor 4 there, a little strange. It wasn't that busy when we got there. They told us we could order where the food is made and then get in line to pay or just get in line and tell the person at the register what you wanted, so we did the later.

A little disclosure, I did not like this place. I liked the location and convenience, but I hated everything I got from here. I did love coming here for water though.

We debated if we should eat there or bring the food back to our room since we had a full kitchen and dining room table. We ended up deciding just to eat there. It was cool watching the monorails go by overhead.



I thought the chairs were super cute, with the mickey head cut out.



I got a root beer and my boyfriend just had a water. They were nice and gave him a full size cup for it though.



I ordered a short rib grilled cheese. I hated this and barely had a couple bites. I ended up giving it to my boyfriend to eat. Some of the cheese wasn't melted, you can see a little in the picture. The short rib tasted good, but there was this coleslaw mixed in that I didn't like. I had read it on the menu, but thought the coleslaw was going to be on the side not inside. The fries were good. The bread was really greasy too. I think my biggest issue was the bread at this place, because I did not like my breakfast sandwich with the same bread either.



My boyfriend got a chicken Cesar salad, which he liked and I ended up eating a few bites.



I took a second picture of mine to show the inside of the sandwich. I think when I ordered it I was hoping for more of a grilled cheese. I had recently had a similar sandwich near my home that was out of this world good and I was comparing this to that the entire time.

We walked around the pool after and enjoyed sitting by a fire pit for a while.

My favorite part of the room was that a one-bedroom comes with a king bed.



A word of caution to those who are light sleepers like me. This room was noisy. You could hear the boat horn on the lake and the train horn inside Magic Kingdom pretty loudly. It made sleeping in impossible. Also one night I heard loud music coming from somewhere. It might have been a dance party inside Magic Kingdom or from the Top of the World Lounge. I was surprised since it's so close to a theme park I thought it would be better sound proofed.





I loved the rain showerhead and want to install it in my house.
​

 

[FSU Girl]

Trip 4 - 9/28-10/1
Contempo Cafe part 2



I was very excited for Friday. We were going to our first Halloween party that night and the reason for our trip. I had changed a lot around for this day too, up until the last minute. So original plan was go to Epcot and then head over to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon and stay until the end of the party. Then some wannabe hurricane formation covered Florida so it rain pretty much the entire weekend. I changed our hibachi to Grand Floridan cafe since we were now on the monorail and tried moving up my fast passes to the early afternoon. Got the last one to go first, but couldn't change anything else. Then I changed my mind again and decided we should go into Magic Kingdom really early and go back to our hotel for an afternoon rest. Then head back out for the party at 5pm. So I changed our lunch to be Skipper Canteen since it's in the park and we've never been. Great. Well, two days before our trip I was trying to find an earlier Be Our Guest lunch on Sunday (we had 1:50pm reservation) when a Cinderella's Royal Table popped up for 11:50am. I went to grab it and the website glitched and it disappeared. I was really sad and started checking the website all day to see if something else would pop up. Well for Friday a Be Our Guest lunch for 1 person was available at 1:10pm and another 1 person at 1:20pm. Thanks to the Dis, I knew I could book these two reservations and show up and be able to sit together since it's quick service and you seat yourselves. Well now that I had those on Friday I didn't want to eat there again on Sunday. And amazingly the Cinderella's Royal Table reservation had appeared again at 11:50am. I grabbed it again and the website glitched again! This time I hit the back button and it miraculously let me reserve it.

So our new plan for Friday was wake up early, eat breakfast at the Contempo Cafe and then head over to Magic Kingdom.

Well, our alarm went off and I did not want to get out of bed. So I sent my boyfriend to go get the food and bring it back. We had a dining table after all. He was very sweet and did this for me so I could sleep a little longer.



I thought it was nice they gave him covers for the food. The other quick services we've gone to didn't do this when we got food to go.



My boyfriend's breakfast (that I ended up eating most of) was a Mickey waffle with bacon and sausage. It was okay, nothing amazing, but I liked it way better than what I had ordered.



I got the breakfast sandwich, which came with egg, cheese and ham. This bread was gross. It was so greasy it covered my fingers and I just did not like this at all. My boyfriend ended up eating all of this.

Since I have more trips planned for this hotel the likely hood of going back here is pretty high. I'll try something else on the menu, hopefully I'll find something I like.





Waking up and seeing this outside your bedroom window is pretty cool. ​

 

[vettegirl]

All caught up on your reviews! That is too bad the rooms are noisy at BLT. We just stayed at the GF and it was quiet, other than fireworks.

 

[absolutmey]

It really is too bad the rooms are so noisy there. I'm sorry that happened to you but I appreciate your review and will have to re-think where we'll be staying for an upcoming strip. We were heavily considering BLT... maybe it's back to WL!

 

[FSU Girl]

All caught up on your reviews! That is too bad the rooms are noisy at BLT. We just stayed at the GF and it was quiet, other than fireworks.

I wonder if the windows are different at the different resorts?

It really is too bad the rooms are so noisy there. I'm sorry that happened to you but I appreciate your review and will have to re-think where we'll be staying for an upcoming strip. We were heavily considering BLT... maybe it's back to WL!

If you were thinking of staying at BLT I would recommend it at least once. I really liked the hotel. Being able to watch the fireworks from our balcony and then head right to bed was pretty amazing. And the location cannot be beat, we walked to Magic Kingdom on two separate days. If you don't plan to sleep in the boat and train horns won't be too much of a problem.

 

[kastoney]

Sorry Contempo Cafe was a bust, but your view though. How amazing!!! After you all have been through I'm sure the fireworks were the perfect welcome!

 

[FSU Girl]

Sorry Contempo Cafe was a bust, but your view though. How amazing!!! After you all have been through I'm sure the fireworks were the perfect welcome!

That view cannot be beat, I was in love with it. It was great

 

[FSU Girl]

Trip 4 - 9/28-10/1
Be Our Guest Lunch

Lunch at Be Our Guest happened only because of the advice of people on this board. I would never have thought to book two reservations for one person each, but that's exactly what I ended up doing. I like this place for lunch, the atmosphere is great and it's a nice place to relax out of the sun. I think I like Dinner a little bit more, but haven't been disappointed by lunch here yet. I also knew from this board that ordering the food ahead of time would save us from having to wait in a huge line. I wasn't sure exactly how it would work with us having two reservations. Mine was at 1:10pm and my boyfriend's was at 1:20pm. I decided to put all the food on my reservation. I figured if they wouldn't let him in with me I'd just linger before going up to the stand. When we checked in there was no problem having us both go in at the same time and get into the preordered line.



I wanted to sit in the West Wing since every time I've been there we've sat in the main ballroom. Unfortunately, all the tables were full and there were people waiting in a line to get the next available table. So we headed back out to the main ballroom and found a table right next to the windows where it was snowing outside



The main ballroom is really pretty. I love the chandeliers and how detailed this room is.



The cups had the Halloween decorations on them that I thought were pretty cute. I got root beer to drink. The drinks are self serve and the cups are over by the soda fountains. I had pre-ordered two drinks for the meal.

From Disney's website: Carved Turkey Sandwich served warm on a Baguette with Dijon Mayonnaise and Pommes Frites.



I am a creature of habit and when I like something at a restaurant it's very hard for me to order something different. I ordered the turkey sandwich again and it was delicious. It reminded me of Thanksgiving with the thick slices of carved turkey. The fries were great too.

From Disney's Website:
French Dip Sandwich Served on a Baguette with Au Jus and Pommes Frites


My boyfriend ordered the same as last time and finished it really quickly. He is a pretty fast eater and I'm an incredibly slow eater so he usually gets to snack on some of my food after he finishes his.

Be Our Guest was another successful lunch. I always feel extra happy when I eat at hard to get into restaurants like its some sort of accomplishment. We have this booked for a couple of our upcoming trips, but we might end up canceling to try something new.

After lunch the plan was to go on a couple more rides and relax at the hotel before the Halloween Party. The forecast for the night was horrible, endless rain. As we were leaving the park walking back to our hotel it started to downpour.

We relaxed in our room for a few hours and went back around 5pm. My original plan was to get in line for the Seven Dwarfs at exactly 5pm, but with the rain we got a bit delayed. I also learned I hate ponchos and ended up buying a Disney umbrella that I used the rest of the trip.



We got into line around 5:17pm and there was already a pretty long line formed. While waiting a lady walked around and handed out pieces of candy. Luckily the place to meet the characters was under cover because it was still down pouring. At 6:20pm the Seven Dwarfs came out. It took us two hours to meet them. My boyfriend is such a trooper when I know he'd never do this without me



After we went to watch the Hocus Pocus show. It wasn't even raining anymore, but the forecast said a lot of rain was coming so they canceled the 8:15pm show. Everyone was pretty disappointed, so they decided to sing one song and then leave.



The little snippet of a show was great. After the show my boyfriend wanted to get dinner. I wasn't hungry so we went over to a quick service that was open and he got a hot dog and chips. He finished eating it before I got a chance to take a picture. I forget what the name of the quick service was. It was across from Pinocchio's. While we were sitting there they went around checking everyone's bands and a family next to us didn't have any and were escorted out of the park. We got some candy from the trick or treat line inside Pinocchio's after.

We decided to get good seats on Main Street to watch the Boo to You Parade. I had watched this online and loved it. It was the reason I wanted to go. I was a little nervous about the weather and it getting canceled, but luckily it did not.



I cannot thank this board enough for the help with planning the Halloween party. I knew absolutely nothing about anything and everything I got to do was because of people's advice on here.



The fireworks even went off despite the rain and with no delay.

Because of the rain, we didn't get to do a lot of things I wanted to. We ended up leaving right after the fireworks since we were wet and a bit grumpy (I can get moody if I don't eat and I didn't have dinner). We might go to another Halloween party, but probably not for a while. I'm glad I got to see the highlights I really wanted to though.

Up next Epcot's Food and Wine Festival
​

 

[Raeven]

Some of the cheese wasn't melted, you can see a little in the picture.

Ew! I hate when you order something with melted cheese in it and it's not even melted. I had that happen with a quesadilla I ordered once and it was gross.

I loved the rain showerhead and want to install it in my house.

Probably not the exact one, but you can order ones on Amazon that attach to your showerhead and they're great! We've had one for like 4 years now and it was only $20 and hooks right on.

 

[FSU Girl]

Ew! I hate when you order something with melted cheese in it and it's not even melted. I had that happen with a quesadilla I ordered once and it was gross.



Probably not the exact one, but you can order ones on Amazon that attach to your showerhead and they're great! We've had one for like 4 years now and it was only $20 and hooks right on.

Thanks for the tip on the shower head! I'll have to check that out.