tami82
DIS Veteran
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PLEASE SCROLL TO THE RIGHT AS I WAS UNABLE TO FORMAT THIS
Here are a few dining reviews from our stay at wilderness lodge from August 18-25th. We were on the free dining plan. We ate at the following places:
Ohana
Pizzafari at AK
Chef Mickey
Sci-fi Lunch at DHS
Whispering Canyon Dinner
Columbia Harbor House
Kona Cafe
Earl of Sandwich
Biergarten
Pinnochios
Roaring Forks at WL
Day 1 & Day 7
We ate dinner at Ohana for dinner and it was great as usual. First night we had a 6:40 reservation but didn’t get in until about 7:25. I find if you are going to eat at Ohana and don’t want to wait too long your best bet is to make the first reservation times which are around 5:00 which is the first seating. We got dumplings and sticky wings which are delicious then came the noodles, broccoli. You get salad after that which is very good. We then got pork, steak, chicken, & then the shrimp which I love. They give you 3 sauces for the meats and all are tasty. Our waiter was very very nice and always came by with more meat and would ask if we wanted more. Then came the bread pudding which is my favorite. The show was excellent as usual, my girls love to get up and do all the activities. I recommend this place and make sure you come hungry. Its one of the best values for the table service given the quality & amount of food you get. Meal is spaced out between courses, meats & dessert so it is not rushed, expect to be there around 1 ½ + hours.
Day 2
Pizzafari at Animal Kingdom. We ate here for lunch and I had the chicken salad. I have had many salads at WDW and this was the one I liked the least. They weren’t too generous with the chicken and wasn’t crazy about the grilled chicken. The chocolate mousse was pretty good though. Im not sure how the pizza is but probably your average pizza you get around WDW.
Chef Mickey for dinner. We ate here before but mainly went again for the kids. The buffet is ok but nothing special. They did have a few good things such as salmon, alfredo pasta, mashed potatoes which were very good. I would skip the ice cream as it is more of a ice milk and very runny just like last time we went. The cheesecake was good. We were there at 5:00 so the characters came over pretty much right away which was a good thing. We were seated in the front so the characters came over to us first so we didn’t have to wait as long as we did the first time we went. This is great for the kids and a nice value for table service if you are on the dining plan, I don’t know if I would pay $120 for this meal out of pocket, maybe if it was the first time with the kids. It was the only character meal we did this trip since we did a bunch last year and had a good time at this one.
Day 3 & Day 6
Sci-fi at DHS. We ate just appetizers for lunch and again did it mainly for the kids. I didn’t try the food but what I did see looked ok like your average burger you would get at applebees. We got two orders of the spinach & artichoke dip and it was the normal size you would get at any restaurant. I did get a kick out of some of the movies so it was a good laugh anyway. We decided to pay out of pocket for this meal. The two appetizers & drinks cost us around $30+ and we did leave a tip for our server. I don’t know if I would come back again as my DH complained he couldn’t see his food. Lol Im positive there are better places to use your table service credits but for a first time I say do it at least once even if just for appetizers like we did. We then used our extra counter service credit which we usually used for lunch on the day we left for breakfast to go at our resort so it worked out.
Whispering Canyon at WL. I had two reservations for WL being we were staying there and wasn’t sure if we would keep the second one depending on how we liked our meal. I was pleasantly surprised. The first night we were seated out of the main room in a nice booth and our waitress didn’t start any antics with us. I really expected the place to be a bit more noisy. We had our endless milkshakes and have to say there were delicious!!! My DH had 3 of them. I had the chicken pasta and it was delicious, DH & my younger daughter had the skillet and enjoyed it. I had the bourbon pecan pie which was very good.
We decided on Day 6 to eat here again because we had a good meal and didn’t feel like venturing out in the rain so it worked out. Again I had the chicken pasta and the chocolate cake (very good but rich) DH had the steak and 3 milkshakes. Lol. I asked to be seated in the main room this time. Again not too bad on the antics expected it to be much more noisy and our waitress didn’t start anything with us although she was a little loud.
Day 4 & Day 7
Columbia Harbour House – I love this place!!! First day I ordered the fried chicken salad, very good as usual, DH had the fried shrimp platter which included fries & coleslaw which looked delicious. We both had the chocolate cake, yum!! Another great use of counter service credit as far as the quality & quantity of food.
Kona Café – This was our first time eating here and had to try based on the great reviews. I had the cucumber sushi roll, chicken noodle bowl both very good. I had the coconut tart which had some sugar type stick cone sitting on it (delicious). The presentation was very nice. This was one of the best desserts I had the whole trip. DH had the ginger rib eye and said was very good. The kids had the mickey ravioli with make your own sundaes with the toppings such as sprinkles, m&ms, & syrup on the side. I was tempted to get the Kona Kone but will try next time. Overall very impressed with the quality of food and loved the desserts!! Good use of a table service as far as quality.
Day 5
Earl of Sandwich – Downtown Disney – Oh my gosh this was the best counter service I had the whole trip. I know it got lots of great reviews on here so just had to try. I had the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich which had chicken, sliced ham, swiss cheese, pineapple, and BBQ sauce on nice hot crusty bread. For dessert I had a double decker brownie with peanut butter in the middle, the thing was huge and very tasty!! My kids had the grilled cheese and pizza, also very tasty baked on their special bread. They had a huge chocolate covered rice krispy treat and the other had a big round piece of cake with sprinkles. I was very happy with my lunch and would definitely come back, I wish I had more time I would have gone a second time but only planned for one day at DD. One of the best values and use of a counter service credit as far as quality & quantity of food you get. Worth making the trip to Downtown Disney for this one plus you can get in a little shopping beforehand.
Biergarten – This was the best buffet of the trip, not your average buffet like Chef Mickey. They had a nice assortment of stuff. I had the chicken snitzel, pretzel bread, roast potatoes, potato salad, sausage, beef roulade (very tender) and spatezel which is a macaroni type dumpling I believe, and other things I don’t recall at the moment. For dessert had the apple strudel very good and the cheesecake which had a very thin layer of what looked like cake on top (I had two pieces it was that good). We had 5:25 reservations but were seated about 5:50 so we were seated only minutes before the show started thank god. The kids enjoyed the show and loved the chicken dance.
This meal was definitely worth our trek through the pouring rain to get to. I would do this one again but hopefully next time we wont have to go through what we did to eat here. One of the best values for a table service buffet as far as quality in my opinion so don’t miss this one.
Day 6
Pinnochios Village Haus at MK – I ate here last year and wanted to go back again this time. I had the Mediterranian Chicken Salad which has chicken, olives, red peppers, mozzarella balls, & croutons. Probably one of the best salads I have eaten at the MK counter service . Dessert chocolate cake
Whispering Canyon – Again another great meal here. Had the same pasta dish as before. DH had the steak and thought it was good. Chocolate cake very good but rich. I recommend this place, good food, great unlimited milkshakes & the kids ride around the restaurant on stick ponies so it’s a good one. Definitely try at least once and see how you like it. I would come back here to eat just for the milkshakes, good value.
Day 7
Columbia Harbour House – I went for the fried shrimp platter. It came with fries & cole slaw & choco cake and it did not disappoint, also one of my best counter services this week and great value for a counter service credit.
Ohana – We had a 6:20 reservation and got in at 6:50 so not as long of a wait as the first night. Again I recommend coming around 5:00 so you don’t have to wait for people to finish their dinners which I guess is around this second seating time. Our waiter was great always came by the table to replenish our sodas and all food we wanted. I found the steak to be very tender, chicken nice & moist, and shrimp very flavorful (although my DH didn’t care for it because it had a little kick to it but I love that so ate plenty of it)
Along with the bread pudding our waiter gave us 3 big scoops of extra ice cream along with the one big scoop that comes on top of the pudding, we devoured it all mainly me & my husband, waiter also asked us if we wanted anymore bread pudding and was very tempted but said no. Again one of the best values for a table service as far as quality & quantity. Meal is spaced out between courses & meats, so it is not rushed, expect to be there around 1 ½ + hours.
Roaring Forks. Even though we stayed at WL I never got the chance to try the things I wanted to at RF because we ate at other places. Just from the looks of it though the flatbread pizza, chicken fingers & fries looked very good, as did some of the sandwiches. They had soft serve ice cream which also looked good and I was meaning to try but again
Too full from other meals we had to even try it.
I did however get a bacon, egg & cheese croissant sandwich to go before we left for home and both me & my DH thought they were very good and a nice generous size. We got two big drinks with it also, a coffee & large orange juice so it was a great value. The restaurant was small but I didn’t have any major problems the times I went to get my coffee or a muffin for the kids, just go at off hours if you can.
Snack credits – We had quite a few of these leftover (about 17 when I realized I better start stocking up on goodies to take home). You get so much to eat on the dining plan between getting desserts with the lunches, etc. that I didn’t use it. I got a bunch of the big Minnie’s Bake Shop Cookies which I also did last year. This year I decided to go to the sweet shop at Magic Kingdom and bought a bunch of chocolate which they put in a nice box to take home. I got the big peanut butter cups, m&m cup, chocolate pecan & cashew caramel turtles which in total were 5 pieces. When I weighed this at home it was over a pound of chocolate. They were very good, next time I will get more chocolate although the big cookies are good too. Don’t spend your credits on coffee or things that cost $2.00 pay out of pocket. Save the credits for the most expensive items up to $3.95. In the end you can get a bunch of goodies to take home. Here are pictures starting with Kona Cafe
OHANA
Ohana Bread Pudding
Columbia Harbor House - shrimp platter
fried chicken salad
Pinnochios Village Haus at MK - Mediterranian Chicken Salad
Biergarten
Earl of Sandwich
Hawaiiaan Chicken Sandwich
peanut butter filled brownie sandwich
some of my snack credit items
Here are a few dining reviews from our stay at wilderness lodge from August 18-25th. We were on the free dining plan. We ate at the following places:
Ohana
Pizzafari at AK
Chef Mickey
Sci-fi Lunch at DHS
Whispering Canyon Dinner
Columbia Harbor House
Kona Cafe
Earl of Sandwich
Biergarten
Pinnochios
Roaring Forks at WL
Day 1 & Day 7
We ate dinner at Ohana for dinner and it was great as usual. First night we had a 6:40 reservation but didn’t get in until about 7:25. I find if you are going to eat at Ohana and don’t want to wait too long your best bet is to make the first reservation times which are around 5:00 which is the first seating. We got dumplings and sticky wings which are delicious then came the noodles, broccoli. You get salad after that which is very good. We then got pork, steak, chicken, & then the shrimp which I love. They give you 3 sauces for the meats and all are tasty. Our waiter was very very nice and always came by with more meat and would ask if we wanted more. Then came the bread pudding which is my favorite. The show was excellent as usual, my girls love to get up and do all the activities. I recommend this place and make sure you come hungry. Its one of the best values for the table service given the quality & amount of food you get. Meal is spaced out between courses, meats & dessert so it is not rushed, expect to be there around 1 ½ + hours.
Day 2
Pizzafari at Animal Kingdom. We ate here for lunch and I had the chicken salad. I have had many salads at WDW and this was the one I liked the least. They weren’t too generous with the chicken and wasn’t crazy about the grilled chicken. The chocolate mousse was pretty good though. Im not sure how the pizza is but probably your average pizza you get around WDW.
Chef Mickey for dinner. We ate here before but mainly went again for the kids. The buffet is ok but nothing special. They did have a few good things such as salmon, alfredo pasta, mashed potatoes which were very good. I would skip the ice cream as it is more of a ice milk and very runny just like last time we went. The cheesecake was good. We were there at 5:00 so the characters came over pretty much right away which was a good thing. We were seated in the front so the characters came over to us first so we didn’t have to wait as long as we did the first time we went. This is great for the kids and a nice value for table service if you are on the dining plan, I don’t know if I would pay $120 for this meal out of pocket, maybe if it was the first time with the kids. It was the only character meal we did this trip since we did a bunch last year and had a good time at this one.
Day 3 & Day 6
Sci-fi at DHS. We ate just appetizers for lunch and again did it mainly for the kids. I didn’t try the food but what I did see looked ok like your average burger you would get at applebees. We got two orders of the spinach & artichoke dip and it was the normal size you would get at any restaurant. I did get a kick out of some of the movies so it was a good laugh anyway. We decided to pay out of pocket for this meal. The two appetizers & drinks cost us around $30+ and we did leave a tip for our server. I don’t know if I would come back again as my DH complained he couldn’t see his food. Lol Im positive there are better places to use your table service credits but for a first time I say do it at least once even if just for appetizers like we did. We then used our extra counter service credit which we usually used for lunch on the day we left for breakfast to go at our resort so it worked out.
Whispering Canyon at WL. I had two reservations for WL being we were staying there and wasn’t sure if we would keep the second one depending on how we liked our meal. I was pleasantly surprised. The first night we were seated out of the main room in a nice booth and our waitress didn’t start any antics with us. I really expected the place to be a bit more noisy. We had our endless milkshakes and have to say there were delicious!!! My DH had 3 of them. I had the chicken pasta and it was delicious, DH & my younger daughter had the skillet and enjoyed it. I had the bourbon pecan pie which was very good.
We decided on Day 6 to eat here again because we had a good meal and didn’t feel like venturing out in the rain so it worked out. Again I had the chicken pasta and the chocolate cake (very good but rich) DH had the steak and 3 milkshakes. Lol. I asked to be seated in the main room this time. Again not too bad on the antics expected it to be much more noisy and our waitress didn’t start anything with us although she was a little loud.
Day 4 & Day 7
Columbia Harbour House – I love this place!!! First day I ordered the fried chicken salad, very good as usual, DH had the fried shrimp platter which included fries & coleslaw which looked delicious. We both had the chocolate cake, yum!! Another great use of counter service credit as far as the quality & quantity of food.
Kona Café – This was our first time eating here and had to try based on the great reviews. I had the cucumber sushi roll, chicken noodle bowl both very good. I had the coconut tart which had some sugar type stick cone sitting on it (delicious). The presentation was very nice. This was one of the best desserts I had the whole trip. DH had the ginger rib eye and said was very good. The kids had the mickey ravioli with make your own sundaes with the toppings such as sprinkles, m&ms, & syrup on the side. I was tempted to get the Kona Kone but will try next time. Overall very impressed with the quality of food and loved the desserts!! Good use of a table service as far as quality.
Day 5
Earl of Sandwich – Downtown Disney – Oh my gosh this was the best counter service I had the whole trip. I know it got lots of great reviews on here so just had to try. I had the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich which had chicken, sliced ham, swiss cheese, pineapple, and BBQ sauce on nice hot crusty bread. For dessert I had a double decker brownie with peanut butter in the middle, the thing was huge and very tasty!! My kids had the grilled cheese and pizza, also very tasty baked on their special bread. They had a huge chocolate covered rice krispy treat and the other had a big round piece of cake with sprinkles. I was very happy with my lunch and would definitely come back, I wish I had more time I would have gone a second time but only planned for one day at DD. One of the best values and use of a counter service credit as far as quality & quantity of food you get. Worth making the trip to Downtown Disney for this one plus you can get in a little shopping beforehand.
Biergarten – This was the best buffet of the trip, not your average buffet like Chef Mickey. They had a nice assortment of stuff. I had the chicken snitzel, pretzel bread, roast potatoes, potato salad, sausage, beef roulade (very tender) and spatezel which is a macaroni type dumpling I believe, and other things I don’t recall at the moment. For dessert had the apple strudel very good and the cheesecake which had a very thin layer of what looked like cake on top (I had two pieces it was that good). We had 5:25 reservations but were seated about 5:50 so we were seated only minutes before the show started thank god. The kids enjoyed the show and loved the chicken dance.
This meal was definitely worth our trek through the pouring rain to get to. I would do this one again but hopefully next time we wont have to go through what we did to eat here. One of the best values for a table service buffet as far as quality in my opinion so don’t miss this one.
Day 6
Pinnochios Village Haus at MK – I ate here last year and wanted to go back again this time. I had the Mediterranian Chicken Salad which has chicken, olives, red peppers, mozzarella balls, & croutons. Probably one of the best salads I have eaten at the MK counter service . Dessert chocolate cake
Whispering Canyon – Again another great meal here. Had the same pasta dish as before. DH had the steak and thought it was good. Chocolate cake very good but rich. I recommend this place, good food, great unlimited milkshakes & the kids ride around the restaurant on stick ponies so it’s a good one. Definitely try at least once and see how you like it. I would come back here to eat just for the milkshakes, good value.
Day 7
Columbia Harbour House – I went for the fried shrimp platter. It came with fries & cole slaw & choco cake and it did not disappoint, also one of my best counter services this week and great value for a counter service credit.
Ohana – We had a 6:20 reservation and got in at 6:50 so not as long of a wait as the first night. Again I recommend coming around 5:00 so you don’t have to wait for people to finish their dinners which I guess is around this second seating time. Our waiter was great always came by the table to replenish our sodas and all food we wanted. I found the steak to be very tender, chicken nice & moist, and shrimp very flavorful (although my DH didn’t care for it because it had a little kick to it but I love that so ate plenty of it)
Along with the bread pudding our waiter gave us 3 big scoops of extra ice cream along with the one big scoop that comes on top of the pudding, we devoured it all mainly me & my husband, waiter also asked us if we wanted anymore bread pudding and was very tempted but said no. Again one of the best values for a table service as far as quality & quantity. Meal is spaced out between courses & meats, so it is not rushed, expect to be there around 1 ½ + hours.
Roaring Forks. Even though we stayed at WL I never got the chance to try the things I wanted to at RF because we ate at other places. Just from the looks of it though the flatbread pizza, chicken fingers & fries looked very good, as did some of the sandwiches. They had soft serve ice cream which also looked good and I was meaning to try but again
Too full from other meals we had to even try it.
I did however get a bacon, egg & cheese croissant sandwich to go before we left for home and both me & my DH thought they were very good and a nice generous size. We got two big drinks with it also, a coffee & large orange juice so it was a great value. The restaurant was small but I didn’t have any major problems the times I went to get my coffee or a muffin for the kids, just go at off hours if you can.
Snack credits – We had quite a few of these leftover (about 17 when I realized I better start stocking up on goodies to take home). You get so much to eat on the dining plan between getting desserts with the lunches, etc. that I didn’t use it. I got a bunch of the big Minnie’s Bake Shop Cookies which I also did last year. This year I decided to go to the sweet shop at Magic Kingdom and bought a bunch of chocolate which they put in a nice box to take home. I got the big peanut butter cups, m&m cup, chocolate pecan & cashew caramel turtles which in total were 5 pieces. When I weighed this at home it was over a pound of chocolate. They were very good, next time I will get more chocolate although the big cookies are good too. Don’t spend your credits on coffee or things that cost $2.00 pay out of pocket. Save the credits for the most expensive items up to $3.95. In the end you can get a bunch of goodies to take home. Here are pictures starting with Kona Cafe
OHANA
Ohana Bread Pudding
Columbia Harbor House - shrimp platter
fried chicken salad
Pinnochios Village Haus at MK - Mediterranian Chicken Salad
Biergarten
Earl of Sandwich
Hawaiiaan Chicken Sandwich
peanut butter filled brownie sandwich
some of my snack credit items
