Hillbillies eat big! Dining report March 3-10 COMPLETE 7/1

[sandym718]

So many delays...sorry!!! Hope to get a couple updates done now.

Dinner that night (Sunday, March 4th) was at one of our favorites...Ohana!!

Unfortunately, my sister was not feeling good, so her and her boyfriend missed this meal. Our original ADR's were made before the new cancellation policy, however we had to rebook this one several times (first to add my sister when they joined the traveling group, then to add MIL when she switched her days, and then just the day before to add DH's aunt when she decided to come stay with MIL but do no parks - this was the only meal she did with us). We were not charged for the 2 who couldn't make it, though, there was no notice at all (they were getting ready to come when she started feeling bad, luckily it didn't last long).

So there were 13 of us for this meal. I think our final ADR time ended up being 5:15, something like that. We didn't wait long and we were seated at 2 round tables near the window, right next to each other. Same server. Some of the guys had some alcoholic drinks (Long islands and beer I think), I know I just stuck with Diet Coke.

The appetizers and sides are our favorite here, and dessert. The salad and bread came first. Then wings, potstickers and noodles. I LOVE all 3 of those, that's the meal for me. We all dug in and enjoyed. Then the meat came around on the skewers. I think I had just one piece of chicken and 1 piece of steak. The guys ate a TON, though, especially our friend who ate SO MUCH of the shrimp!

Then of course , the bread pudding. SO delicious. We were all quite full but I had made sure to save room, I think I had 2 (small) portions. It is just so good! We ALL really enjoyed this meal, didn't feel rushed. My nephew did the races and DD and our friends' son went up for the birthday celebration.

The only issue we had here was with paying. The server brought ONE bill. For 13 people. 4 separate dining plans and 1 person paying OOP. So my SIL had to spend quite awhile showing him how to separate that out and it all took quite a long time. The guys finally took the kids out to the lobby and us ladies wrapped it all up. Not a big deal, though, but with that size group, it would only make sense to ask how it should be divided. I don't think there's any onsite place at Disney that would accomodate 13 in one room/suite!

Overall, another wonderful meal at Ohana and we will definitely return!

 

[sandym718]

Our next Disney meal was at Mama Melrose on Monday, March 5th. We had booked a Fantasmic Package lunch. We had to do 2 separate reservations, I think they were 2:15 and 2:20.

The only returnees here were my family and my sister and DBF. We ate here in 2011 for the first time, a dinner F! package and we were very impressed with the food, only problem was a long delay in being seated, and them mis-managing seating - a family came in an hour past their ADR and was told No, but they knew the manager and were seated immediately then. They were a party of 6, same as us, and it was 20 minutes past OUR ADR time. I followed the goings-on closely, so I knew what the deal was and quickly let the hostess know in no uncertain terms that we were to be seated right away or there would be a major problem as I knew they had just given away "our" table. We were, and the rest of the evening continued without a hitch.

Anyways, back to 2012. No seating problems here. I think we checked in about 15 minutes before our time and we were seated maybe 10-15 minutes after. The lobby is REALLY small here, though, and it seems they have trouble staying on track time-wise. No pagers, so one of a group has to stay in the lobby, but no room for everyone else.

For this meal, we were all seated at one large table, towards the back of the restaurant. Pretty big table -there was 14 of us!! I knew exactly what I wanted, what I had last time - the mixed greens salad, chicken parmesan and the Chocolate cannoli cake. Unfortunately, only the salad was as good as last time. many of us got the chicken parm, but it was just OK. Not very tender, kind of hard to chew. I know DH and DS got the Calamari appetizer and LOVED that. DS was really looking forward to that. And we were disappointed that now they bring out a tray of the desserts for everyone to share (multiple trays for our table). The cannoli cake was on there, but I wanted JUST that, with the red wine sauce like last time. There was just a touch of sauce, and splitting all the desserts up...too much work. So the food was disappointing this time.

But the bigger problem was the service!! As I mentioned before, we had a lot of service problems this trip. We attributed it to the fact that we were a large group, which is harder, and then the gratuity is already included. It stinks if that's the reason why, but it seemed like the servers knew they were already getting their tip, so why give a lot of effort? I definitely never tipped over and above -- and trust me I would have for better service! I believe we were seated at about 2:30 for this meal. (Checked in around 2). We didn't leave until after 4:30!! EVERYTHING took forever. I remember drinks, in particular, we were all so thirsty. And then dessert took for-ev-er. Probably a half hour after we were done with our meals. And then the checks. I don't remember a big problem with them, but just a long time.

So MM went from being a favorite last time to a won't-do-again-anytime-soon for us!!

Here's the one pic I have:

 

[sandym718]

Going to try to get a couple of reviews done here...


Our next meal was at the Contempo Cafe. This was a new one for us. After our late lunch that lasted forever at Mama Melrose, we weren't hungry for anything until much later in the evening. I think it was probably around 9 pm when we monorailed over to the Contemporary to try out this QS. We weren't expecting anything fabulous, but we were very happy!!

I got the Hot Turkey Sandwich -with Brie, apples and Arugula on Challah bread - OMG was this good!!! Hot so the cheese was all melty. This was the best sandwich I had in Disney - which is saying a lot because I LOVE the Aloha Pork Sandwich at CC's and Earl of Sandwich. This was just delicious. I got fries with it, they were good, nothing spectacular that I remember.

I don't think DH ordered a meal, maybe just got a yogurt parfait? Can't remember.

The kids got kids meals I think, even though they were adults on the plan. I think cheeseburgers.

My sister got the Honey Lime chicken sandwich and really enjoyed it. I don't remember what her boyfriend got, but he was happy as I recall.

We ordered a few cupcakes for dessert. I'm pretty sure my sister and I both got Red Velvet. They were delicious, but we were so full, we only took a few bites. I think DH finished mine!!

I know that for me, at least, I plan to come back here for that sandwich...it was THAT good!!

 

[sandym718]

Our next day was our Animal Kingdom morning. We're not HUGE fans, just a few must-do's there for us, so we always just spend the morning. Then we head somewhere else for lunch (though we have done, and liked, Flame Tree in the past).

This time we went back with my Sis and her boyfriend to CSR to try out the new lunchtime buffet at Pepper Market. We enjoyed an a la carte lunch here last time and we were excited to try out the buffet.

It was just OK. There's lots of variety, but none of it is excellent quality. I know there were sandwiches, pasta, taco bar and a lot more. A kids' section too. Nothing was bad, but nothing stood out. I can't even remember what I ate (I know I had a sandwich and some sort of taco), it was all just mediocre. We did all have sundaes for dessert, those are always a hit.

I don't think we'll bother coming back here. And DSis and DSB are hoping to stay at the Poly with us next time so there would be no reason at all!

 

[sandym718]

This night we were trying out somewhere new, something I was really excited to try and everyone else was just so-so about -- Hoop De Doo Revue!!!

If you've been following my TR, you know DD got sick this afternoon before this meal. As we were all showering and getting ready, she vomited out of nowhere. She was fine after, though, joking around, etc. We weren't sure if she was sick or maybe just something didn't sit right from the buffett? Since there is a 24 hour cancellation policy for HDDR, and we were each using 2 TS credits, we made the decision to give it a try. DH said he would leave with her if needed, calling a cab. Luckily, that didn't happen. She was able to stay for the entire meal, doing well at the beginning (but eating nothing, which I obviously didn't force), but then started declining, more tired than anything. Kept denying any stomach ache or anything. Until she vomited in the bushes right after the show. ugh!! Luckily, though, that was it and after a good night's sleep, she was fine.

Onto the meal details....well, first, transportation. This isn't the easiest place to get too. For us, if it's not on the monorail, we usually drive. But you can't drive directly here, you need an internal bus, so I've heard the boat is the way to go. So our plan was this. 7:15 show time. Watch the just-before-6 torch lighting at the Polynesian, catch the monorail to MK immediately after. Then boat to FW. First part of the plan worked great.
Kids on the monorail:

Arrive at MK, full boat to FW is just leaving. CM tells us it will be just 7 minutes till next boat. OK, no problem, it's probably 6:30 or so at this point. Plenty of time. Well, that boat took FOREVER to come. Probably 5 minutes to 7 when it arrived (so, 25 minutes). Right as it's time to board - DS has to go to the bathroom! Too bad, he had to hold it!! And let me tell you, it was tad chilly! Then, we didn't know this boat goes to WL first!!!! And we had to wait to dock there as there was another boat. We're panicking a bit at this point. But there's NOTHING we can do. Other people on the boat also going to HDDR, so we figure that's in our favor. Finally head over to FW and there we AGAIN have to wait for another boat to leave. What the heck? Where are all these boats coming from? Not the MK!! We finally dock and get off RIGHT at 7:15. That was one stressful ride - between the time factor, DS having to pee, worrying about DD getting sick (she was totally fine at that time though)...I was never so glad to arrive!!
Pic from the boat ride, clearly DD is still fine here:

So we hurry over to check in and no problem at all, lots of people still checking in. Phew!! DS runs to bathroom of course.

Now, for real, onto the actual meal/show!!! We are in Category 2 with our DDP. 11 in our group. We got a long table (really multiple tables pushed together) all the way to the left (facing the stage) towards the back. Great seating, we can see the stage fine. Then the table sort of in front of us is seated (tables are angled, but it was between the stage and us if that makes sense). Family of 4 I think it was. Dad is in a wheelchair. A very large, high back wheelchair with a lot of equipment. He appeared to be seriously disabled, with some sort of tube he had to either spit or breathe into every few seconds, and did not appear to have use of his arms at all either. Seemed to be a very happy family - clearly I'm sure they've been through the ringer, I wish them all the joy and happiness in the world, I"m sure they deserve it. That said, when they were first seated, I had an "uh-oh" moment. DS and DNephew were seated across the table from me. And it seemed to me, from my point of view, that this wheelchair was blocking their view of the stage (the high back/headrest portion). Oh boy, what do you do in that situation? Really uncomfortable to say something, obviously, not what I wanted to do (to waitstaff I mean, not the family). I had decided that DH and I would just switch with the boys (though we were trying to keep DD away from the other kids with her illness), so they could see and we'd just make do. Luckily, though, upon discreet asking, they could see fine. DBIL had to move his chair a bit, but no biggie. Phew, problem averted. I have to wonder though about how this was communicated/planned? As it seems like it could be a problem in this or other shows? Did the family indicate this in someway in making the reservation? I'm thinking not because the chair was moved when they arrived. even if they did, would staff understand the size of the chair and anticipate any potential issues? Because with full knowledge, it seems like that table would be seated where we were (just using one table of course), as there was no one "behind us" at that angle to the stage. Again, it was no problem at ALL, and even if it were, it would be such a miniscule thing compared to what the family has/is dealing with. It just got me thinking is all, because I've never encountered such a situation before.

OK, really, you want to hear about the meal and the show, right??? Well, it was GREAT!!! EVERYONE enjoyed the show, very funny and well-done. And the food was delicious. I loved the chicken and the cornbread, the beans and the mashed potatoes. Ribs were just OK to me, but many of the others loved them. The sangria is STRONG let me tell you! I'm not a wine drinker, but I do like sangria generally, but this was too strong for me. Knowing I had to make sure DD was OK, I just stuck to my water. The guys did enjoy some beer. The strawberry shortcake is to die for!!!! I think the best I've ever had. Overall, this was well worth the 2 credits for both good food and entertainment value. I don't remember our servers name but he was great, just the right amount of funny, not obnoxious.

Now you already know what happened right after the meal, out in the bushes. So what to do??? Call a cab? Well, there's a bus to the Poly right there, might as well just do that. We had a plastic bag with us, btw, in case. So we all get on the bus. And sit there, and sit there. I guess the buses all line up but don't leave until a certain time. But this bus was packed full, including people standing, for a good 10-15 minutes before we left. No one else could have even FIT on there, so why wait? I was getting very cranky, worried about DD and just wanting to get back to the room!! Luckily, she made it back with no problems and as I said, got a good night's sleep.

So, we DEFINITELY will be back to HDDR. I just don't know how we'll transport there and back. Neither way was great, so we'll have to see. In fact, DD has requested it for our first night's dinner in 2014 -exactly on her 10th birthday!!! She enjoyed the show a lot, but wants to try that delicious food. And she saw they made a big deal if it was your ACTUAL birthday there, so she's all excited to go. Sounds like a great first night to me!!!

Here's a few pictures:

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

Your sweet daughter's picture says it all. What a trooper she is for going and trying to have a good time. I love love love plastic grocery bags. I always have one in my purse as you never know when even a passerby may be in need of a plastic bag.

Enjoying your report.

Although it was not my husband in the wheel chair I am very familiar with making sure "ALL" can see a show or program, this includes strangers seated behind my husband. I would never take offense as I never know for sure if Dale is blocking anyone. I am sure that family would not have taken any offense-- well for me I wouldn't.

 

[sandym718]

Your sweet daughter's picture says it all. What a trooper she is for going and trying to have a good time. I love love love plastic grocery bags. I always have one in my purse as you never know when even a passerby may be in need of a plastic bag.

Enjoying your report.

Although it was not my husband in the wheel chair I am very familiar with making sure "ALL" can see a show or program, this includes strangers seated behind my husband. I would never take offense as I never know for sure if Dale is blocking anyone. I am sure that family would not have taken any offense-- well for me I wouldn't.

Thank God for plastic bags, LOL!!!

Thank you for that. I really would have felt horrible having to say something, I'm glad I didn't need to. The seating angles are odd there at HDDR too, and I'm sure it's not something anyone - the family or the staff - encounters on a regular basis at all!

Thanks for reading!

 

[nicole0992]

Loving your reviews. Your daughter's face in the last picture broke my heart seeing her plate with the napkin still surrounding the silverware. What a sweet girl she was to stick it out.thumbsup2

 

[sandym718]

The next day I believe we all had Captain Cook's pastries for breakfast. I know DS and I did - we headed to DHS alone this morning while DD got some more sleep and DH stayed back with her. I'm pretty sure he told me that's what they got later, though, about 9:30-10:00. Either that or DD had a CS breakfast. Can't remember! I know I had a Chocolate Chip Croissaint of course, and DS had a Cheese Danish. both delicous! I sure like my sweets in the morning, not very healthy.

Our next meal was lunch at Earl of Sandwich! This is always a favorite, of mine especially. I love a good hot sandwich on yummy bread!! It is always crowded here, and this was no exception. I think we were early too, maybe 11:30 or so?

Neither DS or DD were very hungry and neither wanted sandwiches. I believe they both got yogurt parfaits with snack credits (at least one of them got a big one I think, which was 2 snack credits). I got the Full Montagu as usual - roast beef and turkey with sharp cheddar ceese and aged Swiss cheese, romaine lettuce, roma tomato and Earl's mustard sauce

This was soooooo good!! I just had a discussion about mustard with my SIL the other day. I love mustard. All but just plain ole regular yellow French's mustard. That does nothing for me. But give me a spicy, stone ground, brown, honey or dijon mustard any day!! Anyways, hot, melty, delicious sandwich!!

I believe DH had the Italian, DSis had the Hawaiian BBQ and DSBF had the Meatball. Everyone enjoyed them!!

I don't remember what everyone else got for dessert/side, but I know I got the Peanut Butter Brownie. These are really good and all packaged up...which is good because I took it back to the room. I had something else in mind for dessert!!

A Doh Bar of course!!!!!!!! What a wonderful treat - it's got all the right components - chocolate, melty and warm, and then the crunchy nuts. Oh so good. I'm usually NOT a deep-fried fan, but this is da bomb, LOL. I have discovered they do them at our local fair now as well. So once a year I have a Fried Snickers bar - either in Disney or at the fair. BTW, Cooke's of Dublin is where you find this heavenly treat - for a snack credit too!! It is usually a bit of a wait for one. They make everything to order, so I always just find a seat and wait. By the time I got this (we shopped after lunch), it was probably around 1 and there was hardly anyone here. Someday I'd like to try this place for lunch.

I snacked on the Choc -PB brownie throughout the rest of the week, keeping it in the fridge. Makes a nice breakfast for a sweet freak!

 

[sandym718]

Loving your reviews. Your daughter's face in the last picture broke my heart seeing her plate with the napkin still surrounding the silverware. What a sweet girl she was to stick it out.thumbsup2

I know, she looks miserable doesn't she?? Really, though, at that point (the rest of us are just eating the salad), she was doing fine. Just said she was tired and she did enjoy the show. My picture of her napkin waving didn't come out good so I didn't put it here, but she did get into that later. That picture does make me feel bad, though, she looks just awful. If she had told me she felt bad, we would've gotten her back to the room!! I think she didn't want to miss out. She is such a sweetie and she's not one for letting illness or injury (she suffered a very bad arm break in 2010, with multiple surgeries) get her down!

 

[sandym718]

OK, trip report is done...time to focus on the dining!!

Our dinner on Wednesday night (March 7th) was at Chef Mickey's.

This would be our 4th visit here. 3rd time for dinner, once we did breakfast. I actually preferred breakfast, but with scheduling, etc., we're doing dinner again.

We had 2 separate ADR's, I believe they were 5:15 and 5:25 maybe? The monorail was not running until 5:30 this evening, so we opted to just drive over.

Funny story - there was a car in the Contemporary parking lot that had writing on the windows- said "I *heart* ****ies" with a simple drawing!!! I'm guessing someone was on a honeymoon and the guys in the wedding party were having some fun. I'm kind of surprised the CM's let them in the lot with it though, not very Disney-ish. We're very low-key about that sort of thing, so we all got a good laugh. I think my BIL took pictures. The boys found it hilarious!! I could see another family not being so thrilled, though, for example if they came out with their 4 year old to find that car parked next to them.

So we went on in to CM's. Waited maybe 10 minutes? We all opted out of getting the photo taken, knowing we wouldn't buy it. Here we are all waiting, these benches were perfect for our group:

So first, the good news: We were all seated together. That was a surprise - a pleasant one we thought at first. What else was good news? Food was OK. I've always found that to be the case. Golden Corral-type quality, plenty of choices, all just OK. Our family of 4 honestly probably wouldn't have come back here this time, but everyone else wanted to, so we did. Again, food was fine, just nothing spectacular.

The bad news: Being seated together was not great. I'll try to explain where we were seated. When you walk into the restaurant, the buffets are kind of to the right. Imagine circling all the way around to the right, past the "first" buffet, then on to the 2nd. Our table was all the way where that buffet first started. 1/2 booth, 1/2 table. Behind the booth side was the buffet line if that makes sense. Still didn't really see a problem with this...until the characters started coming. When they came, they came from the center of the restaurant. My family was seated at the far end of this table, no tables between us and the buffet line entry and then the restaurant wall. Kids spread out along the table. So the characters would come, see our friends' sons, see my nephew...and then walk away!! I don't know if they couldn't see my kids down on our end or what? There was only my BIL seated between my nephew and my DS, so I dont' know how that would be possible. It seemed more to me like they felt they had already spent enough time at the table and were moving on.

Now, I'll say this. We are VERY quick at the character meals. In the past, both kids would get photographs and I'd get one photo of BOTH of them with the character. That's it! This time, DS wasn't even getting autographs, and sometimes not in the picture either. A couple times I got multiple photos, but usually as they were signing the book, etc. Our friends and nephew were taking a bit more time, but still not long like I've seen other tables (you know the ones, monopolizing characters). That was NOT going on here.

So I don't know what the deal was, but I was left to feel like an idiot always trying to kind of yell for the characters to come back. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. One time, one of the handlers even told me that they'd be back later! What?? They do half a table and then go to others and we have to wait for them to circle back around? That makes no sense. So I was pretty frustrated and cranky with this meal. I was also getting irritated because BIL/SIL wouldn't just say, after Nephew's photos, that there were more kids down here. I was trying to have the kids standing at the ready for goodness sakes and it just wasn't working.

The other bad - our friends had ordered a Mickey cake for their son's birthday. It was shortly after our trip, and tonight was the night they had picked to "celebrate". Well, no cake was ready for them. Boy was she mad!! (Rightfully so). We had to wait forever for them to get one and bring it out.

Flip side of that is that because we were there so long...we ended up catching all the characters as they came back around.

So overall, a frustrating and disappointing meal. We definitely won't be back. If for some reason, we ever should (I'm talking with grandchildren or something!!), and we'd be with a large group - we'd just make separate reservations. Seems much easier to deal with the characters that way.

The kids did have a good time, so that's most important!

There were some chairs placed on the wall next to us, that's where I took this picture:

 

[sandym718]

Time for one more!!

Our next meal was another character meal, but for breakfast this time!! We went to 1900 Park Fare!

This was the first time here for everyone except BIL and family. They had enjoyed it 2011 and DNephew requested this one.

We had 11:15 breakfast ADR. Checked in at about 11 and waited about 15 minutes. Lobby at the GF is just gorgeous. I always enjoy visiting there, but have no desire to stay there. Too fancy, I prefer the laid-back Poly vibe.

We were seated at 2 tables next to each other for this meal (and I was very thankful after the night before!!).

The food here was wonderful!! Waffles, omlets, fruit. Everything was SO good. We all ate our fill for sure. The only thing I would've liked was strawberry "topping" for my waffles, that's my favorite. They did have fresh strawberries and that soup (which I thought was just OK), so it's not like something was missing. Just what I would've liked.

Character interaction here was GREAT! Pooh and Tigger are so funny here, goofing around. All the characters took plenty of time. Mad Hatter was so silly. Only "problem" we had was it was really hard to tell their pattern of visiting tables. Hard to guage when someone was coming. The kids were always there but I think twice, my sister or her boyfriend had to come get me at the buffet so I could hurry back to take pictures. Once I was waiting on my omlet, so DSBF waited for it for me.

Service was just OK here. Not overly friendly. By this point in the week, we were used to it. Our waitress told us all we had to "try the juice first and then if we wanted something else, we could have it". Oooookay??? I did enjoy the juice, but also wanted a diet coke. This was a brunch time, not 7 am. She did bring DD a cupcake for her birthday, though, which was nice

Overall we really enjoyed this one and do plan to return!! Oh, forgot to mention, the monorail was running prior to our ADR, but we knew it wouldn't be afterwards, so we drove here too. That monorail thing was really not great, paying all that to stay at the Poly and then still driving to the other monorail resorts?? Oh well.

Just a few more meals to review! I hope to maybe finish them up later today

 

[DisneyMom5]

Enjoying it!

You had me at "Hillbillies" [see my siggie]. Great minds think alike.
We've done the big group thing too (actually, our immediate family is a grand gathering unto ourselves...but we did take the kinfolk.)
Sometimes, it gets a bit old. We're planning on sneaking out to WDW just with our kids next time.

Your poor dd...she looked miserable. She is such a trooper!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[sandym718]

Enjoying it!

You had me at "Hillbillies" [see my siggie]. Great minds think alike.
We've done the big group thing too (actually, our immediate family is a grand gathering unto ourselves...but we did take the kinfolk.)
Sometimes, it gets a bit old. We're planning on sneaking out to WDW just with our kids next time.

Your poor dd...she looked miserable. She is such a trooper!

Thanks for sharing!

Too funny!!! Yes, I can see it getting old afterwhile. We'll be doing the beach just the 4 of us this August and not sure what we're doing next year yet. The big group is returning in 2014, a 2 year "break" should suffice, LOL.



Taking the kids to the waterpark now, but hope to finish this up tonight!

 

[sandym718]

Well, I got delayed again, as usual, but I'm here to finish up this report!!

As you remember, on Thursday, our TS meal was in the morning, for brunch. So that meant we were having CS later in the day.

We spent the day at Blizzard Beach and I figured we'd have some ice cream there, but no one was really hungry. However, after driving back to the Poly about 4 pm, all of a sudden we were starving. Before even going to the room, we stopped by Captain Cook's for some ice cream and dined al fresco, still in our swimsuits and cover-ups!!

I had a Mickey Cookies n Cream sandwich and the rest of the fam had Dole Whips. The just love 'em. I can take it or leave it, I prefer a Float from Aloha Isle if I'm going to have one. My sandwich was good, I wish they still had the Toll House cookie ice cream sandwiches, though, those are my favorite. Or hard ice cream at CC's like some of the food courts, that would be great!!

So after that large snack, dinner was definitely late!! We knew where we were headed...Columbia Harbor House. Last trip had been our first time eating there, we had gone for one reason specifically...fried shrimp for DS. At that time, it was a brand-new love of his, so we had to get it. He was on the kids' plan then, so DH ate the kids meal so he could get shrimp. We ALL had loved our meals there, though, so we knew we had to return.

I was not quite sure going in though, if I would be as happy. Last time I had the BLT salad, and loved it. I knew this was off the menu now, though. But I figured the chicken on it was so good, might as well get the chicken nuggets/tenders, right? Well, it was a good decision!! I'm not usually a chicken fingers person, but these are REALLY good!! DD was very happy to get the "good" chicken this time, on the adult meal. I really do not understand why they give the kids those crappy chicken nuggets instead of just fewer of the good chicken??? They give the adults a ton, just give the kids a few of the good stuff!! DS was thrilled with his shrimp, I think that's what DH had too. Pretty sure both DSis and DSB had the chicken.

We were also looking forward to dessert. DSis just loves that packaged chocolate cake they have here and several other places (I do agree that it's good, but she's a maniac about it!) DSB and I fondly remembered the apple crisp dessert and it was as good as we remembered, if not better!! I'm telling you, we also ate at Biergarten last time and this stuff is a lot better than the apple strudel. To me, it is more of an apple strudel or danish than a crisp - there's no oatmeal-y like topping or anything like that, it's pastry. Oh so good!!!

 

[sandym718]

Onto our last full day in the World...

Our TS meal today (our last TS of the trip!) was a late lunch at Le Cellier Third time for us here, dinner the first 2 times before it became a Signature. When doing our planning, we knew we wanted to eat here, as did BIL and family. We decided that it would be nice to have our last night "free" without worrying about an ADR - just go where the kids wanted to go - so a TS lunch would be good. Works out perfectly to get LeCellier for one credit!!

We had 11 of us for this meal (DSis and DSB had Via Napoli). I think our ADR was 2:20 or around there. We waited for a little while, but not long, and we were seated at 2 round tables next to each other.

I knew exactly what I would have - Filet with cream cheese mashed potatoes, Chocolate Raspberry Shake, Chocolate Whiskey cake. I got it all and it was as good as I remembered!!! Tender steak, delicous, rich mashed potatoes. The shake is SO good. It's not on the menu any longer, but the waitress said they still make them all the time and it was no problem. SIL had one as well. The cake was also delicious, but they used to put more creme anglaise on the plate and I really liked that.

The kids both got pasta I think. The server said they could have an adult-sized portion since they were adults on the plan, even though that's not on the adult menu. I had a feeling neither would eat that much, but we went ahead and got it. DS made a good dent at least. I think they both got Smores for dessert. I know DD was thrilled with that, maybe her favorite food of the week!!

DH did the Chef's courses with the Chicken and Chipotle Sausage appetizer, Burger, and Chocolate Moose. He was very happy as well.

Of course, we went through a lot of pretzel bread at the table as well.

As far as I know, all 11 of us were happy with the food. But once again service was a problem. Not rude, just not overly friendly ( I did appreciate the offering of larger amount of food for the kids...though of course that also bumps up the mandatory gratuity rather than if they just get a kids' meal). And once again, VERY, VERY slow. We did not leave this meal until about 4:45. That's over 2 HOURS!! They reset the tables for dinner and were seating dinner (2 credit) guests while we were sitting there, it was weird. And given that it was our last evening in the Parks, we were ready to get out there!!

A few pictures...friends' family and the beautiful gardens outside:

 

[sandym718]

Two last CS reviews for you....

Dinner that night for the kids and I was at Casey's Corner. DH stayed back at the Poly and just used a snack credit or two. The kids and I weren't overly hungry either, but we were in the MK, and DD really wanted to try the Corn Dog Nuggets. Her and I both had those and I think DS had a regular hot dog. We all got the Brownie for dessert. We ate this meal late, probably 8:30 or so, it wasn't crowded at all. None of us finished our meals, but we all enjoyed them a lot, we'd definitely return!! We sat on the bleachers and watched the old baseball cartoons, which we enjoyed. We're a big baseball/softball family, so this place is right up our alley!! I don't have any pictures from this meal, I wish I did. The kids and I had a very nice night in the MK, and this meal was a great part of it.

And our final CS of the trip was lunch on our departure day from Captain Cook's. We spent the last morning at the Volcano Pool. We had 4 CS credits remaining (DH did not use them for dinner the night before or on Monday after Mama Melrose and the kids did not use them for lunch on Wednesday at EoS, snack credits instead). So it worked out well for us to have one last lunch. I honestly cannot remember what everyone had. I think I had the Hawaiian flatbread. We all ate poolside, used up our last snack credits to take home some goodies, and then we were off for the long drive home. No photo of us here, but this is our friends' family:

and here's BIL and family:

 

[DisneyMom5]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

The filet with mashed potatoes is one of my favorite meals at WDW. I love that they let you substitute like that.

Hope you get back there again soon!

 

[sandym718]

So, that's it, that's all there is...LOL!!

A little summary:

I didn't track our receipts or anything this time, to compare with the DDP. This was our first time getting the plan for "free". It was nice having the kids on the adult plan. Sure wouldn't have paid for it, they didn't eat THAT much, but it was nice not having to restrict their choices.

I know I didn't report on all our snack credits either, tried to touch on the "special" ones. most of the others were things like popcorn, Mickey bars, pastries from CC's.

Table Service---
Probably won't return--- Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's (neither horrible, we've just done them several times and quality seems to have gone down, ready to move on to other things); Mama Melrose

Definitely will return --- HDDR, Ohana, 1900 Park Fare

Probably will return, but not necessarily next trip --- LeCellier

Counter Service---
Probably won't return -- Pepper Market

Definitely will return -- Captain Cook's, Contempo Cafe, Earl of Sandwich, Columbia Harbor House, Casey's Corner

Probably will return at some point, but not a must do -- La Cantina de San Angel



Our large group has had a few dining discussions already about our 2014 trip. The consensus is that while we had GREAT meals, table service just takes SO long with a large group. Also, been there, done that with the character meals. And we'd like more flexibility.

Our thought right now is that HDDR and Ohana are MUST DO's. No doubt about it. The plan is for HDDR on our arrival day, March 1, 2014, for DD's 10th birthday. Our family and DSis and DSB are pretty certain we want to also do 1900 Park Fare brunch again. Not for the characters, but we really enjoyed the meal. Given that this is 4 TS credits each already, we will Most Likely do the DDP again. Especially if it turns out to be Free Dining again. Since both kids will be 10+ and these 3 meals are AYCE....the DDP would be nice, I'd hate to pay the OOP adult prices for them. We're thinking we'll do those 3 meals, choose another Signature meal (California Grill, Yachtsman or LeCellier dinner probably) and then one more TS, maybe for a lunch. That would give us 5 sit-down meals on the 7 night trip, at least one of which would be in the morning. That's at least 3 afternoons/evenings unplanned and not commited to an ADR.

I think we found this to be the "problem" (not really, but the negative part to it) this time: 1) Large group = hard to get later ADR's, most of ours were early 2) Large group = longer dining times 3) Traveling in early March, often times the best time of day for swimming was in the 4-6pm range and we didn't want to go get ready for dinner!

We're thinking by doing only 3 or 4 TS dinners, and trying to schedule them later (doing separate ADR's as needed, and especially since the kids will be older), we'll feel more relaxed and free to chill out at the pool in the late afternoons. Some of the best times on this trip, if you've read my TR, were just hanging at the pool in the late afternoon/evening with some adult beverages. We want more of that next time!!!

So....only 607 days to go, LOL!!! Thanks for reading!!

 

[sandym718]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

The filet with mashed potatoes is one of my favorite meals at WDW. I love that they let you substitute like that.

Hope you get back there again soon!

That's one of my favorites too!! I was very happy to hear they will allow you to substitute. I'm, eh, neutral on mushrooms.

Thanks for reading!!