How Many Character Meals Is Too Many??? A Sept. 2010 DxDP Report with pics

[crostorfer]

How many character meals can you cram into one 6 day vacation? I am about to answer that question in what is sure to be a thrilling, (if not somewhat bland at times), review of our last week's vacation on the Deluxe Dining Plan. This review will conincide with my Trip Report entitled The Trail of Tears Ends With Candy, or possibly, Herbie! Corral your Lovebugs!.

In an attempt to keep my VERY picky eater as happy as possible, we stuck with mostly buffets, mostly with characters, and did a couple fabulous grown up style dinners as well. As far as the characters are concerned I decided that if we were going to go, we might as well go all out!

So, join me as we take our culinary journey through Tiggers and Poohs, Princesses and Mice. In order, we will be heading to...

1. O'Hana Breakfast
2. Sci Fi Dine In Theatre Lunch(No Pics, too dark)
3. Captain Cooks @ the Polynesian (An unscheduled stop) (No pics, too tired)
4. Akershus Breakfast
5. Marrakesh Lunch
6. O'Hana Dinner
7. Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast
8. Crystal Palace Lunch
9. Flying Fish Cafe Dinner
10. Tusker House Breakfast
11. Restarauntosaurus Lunch
12. California Grill Dinner
13. My two cents on the Kona Coffee bar, and the Disney World java situation in general.
14. Three Broomsticks lunch @ Islands of Adventure
15. Chef Mickey's Dinner
16. A Disclaimer about snack credits and the Food and Wine Festival
17. Cape May Cafe Breakfast

We had a few snacks and drinks that I will throw in there as well for good measure. So, without further ado, away we go to the land of tropical island breezes and strange aliens who love Elvis.....

 

[pinkxray]

Can't wait!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Count me in!

 

[crostorfer]

We arrived at the Poly on Sunday, September 26th around 8:30 in the morning, tired and hungry and ready to meet some characters. We hit the ground running and directly after checking in and stowing our bags at the Polynesian, we headed up the stairs to Ohana for some grub.

The place was packed. The waiting area was completely full of people already waiting patiently, (and in some cases not so patiently), to be seated. As a side note, we walked through the 2nd floor everyday of our stay, and I never saw the waiting area as crowded as I did on Sunday morning.

We were greeted with an "Aloha!" and a smile, given two extra flower lai's and a pager. After about a 20 minute wait, we buzzed and made our way over to the greeter and a proffessional photo. (I'll post that when I get them scanned.)

(*Note* The proffesional photo is $29.95 and is brought to your table. You are not required to purchase it, but they make it hard to say no, LOL.)

We were given a basket of Ohana Welcome Bread upon arrival to our table, which was directly next to the window overlooking the marina.

The welcome bread was unbelievable. It was so yummy. Warm and fresh and sweet like a cinnamon roll, but with pineapple. Delicious!

Our server, (who I will admit looked a bit overworked but still friendly), popped by to pour us some delicious juice and drop off the first of our food.

The sausage links deserve special attention on the breakfast platter. I thought they were delicious. They weren't like any other sausage I've ever had. Kassidy really enjoyed the bacon and ate 5 of the Mickey waffles. The eggs were also appropriately hot and yummy.

The characters were out in full force and dooing loops around the room the entire time we were there. Lilo in particular was wonderful. She gave kisses and hugs.

Stitch and Pluto were great, they had a little interaction where they wrestled and tackled one another. Every character made sure to visit our table and stay for at least an autograph and a picture. The meal never felt rushed, but the character interactions felt a little rushed to be honest. But, on the other hand, I understand. The place is rather large and they have a lot of tables to greet.

This meal was one TS credit a piece and was delicious and fun. The tropical juice and the welcome bread alone make it worth the price. The feel is very tropical and the views from the windows are lovely. The restaraunt is very loud at breakfast though, so if you are looking for a quiet dining experience for breakfast, this is not the place for you.

Instead of stars or ratings, I simply will state whether or not we would go back to each establishment.

Would we go back to OHana for breakfast?

Mom: Yes! Gimme more of that bread!
Kassidy: Yes! Because of the juice.

 

[crostorfer]

During breakfast we recieved a text that our room was ready, so we headed over and got changed into our suits to relax by the pool for a bit before we departed for our first park. While poolside, we visited the Barefoot Pool Bar, where I got a frou-frou tropical drink called a Tangerine Dream and Kassidy got an Orange smoothie with a fun name I can't remember. I must have been too exhausted from our red eye flight from Seattle to remember to take a pic of it, but I have one of Kassidy and her smoothie.

Around 2ish, we took the bus over to Hollywood Studios for our 3pm reservations at the Sci Fi Dine in Theatre. 2ish was apparently not early enough. We checked in around 3:15, but were still greeted warmly and seated within 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of this meal, the place was too dark, and trust me, the meal wasn't that pic-worthy anyway. It wasn't bad, just wasn't that great.

The atmosphere at the Sci Fi is wonderful, and on a super hot and humid day the air conditioning was more than welcome. I am personally a fan of "B" movies and cheesy, campy, horror films in particular, so the film clips were right up my alley.

It took a while to see our waitress, and the first time we did is when we discovered that my daughter and I were not going to be alone in our dining car, they put another party of two in our backseat. I understand they want to fill tables, but to me, it was a little too close for comfort. I was tired and didn't feel like being particularly social, nor did I really want people to be able to hear everything my daughter and I were saying.

Kassidy ordered a Tinker Bell and Friends Punch that came in a souvineer cup with a light up Tinkerbell attached. Disney really knows what they are doing with these things. Once your kids see another kid with one of these things, there is no going back. Be prepared for the begging. We saw it twice, once at the Sci Fi, and later at our OHana dinner where Kassidy ordered a Buzz Lightyear Punch. Its fruit punch in a kids sized glass with a glow thing, and it will cost you nearly $7. And there is no refill on it. Be prepared.

I had a cherry coke. It was....well....a cherry coke. Not much to say there. For lunch, Kass ordered the cheese pizza kids complete meal that came with celery and carrots and apples. She ate nearly the whole thing, but when I just asked her about it now she told me that it tasted bad and at the time she was just hungry. I ordered the turkey sandwich with cucumber salad instead of fries. (It was WAY too hot for fried food.) Blah. Thats all I have to say. The sandwich wasn't bad, I ate the majority of it, but it was HUGE and just kind of blah. The cucumber salad was completely lackluster. It tasted like cucumbers marinated in some kind of flavored vinegar. Not good.

We skipped dessert here. It just wasn't worth it and we were ready to ride some rides.

I paid OOP here, and I was sorry. It was nearly $40 by the time everything was said and done for a huge portion of lackluster food.

Would we eat here again?

Mom: No. The clips were fun, but once was enough. I'd rather eat counter service for the same quality at at third of the price.

Kassidy: No. My pizza was gross.
Kassidy:

 

[crostorfer]

Throughout the rest of the day we just drank water, because, have I mentioned it was HOT? Hotter than Hades hot. The one purchase that we did make and ended up carrying around most of the day rather than eating was a gargantuan, sticky, mess, stain-worthy candy apple from the candy shop next to Villians in Vogue. I don't think Kass ever took an actual bite from this thing, but she did lick on it like a sucker I suppose.

Before we left for Orlando, I had made a last minute late reservation for Kona Cafe for after Fantasmic, thinking that since we are West Coaster's, we would be hungry around 9pm since that would feel like 6pm to us. Well, I was right. We were hungry. But we were also SHOT. Leaving Fantasmic was the worst experience of our 6 days there, but I'll leave that for our trip report. By the time we made it to our resort bus, there was no way were were going to sit through an hour at dinner, so we skipped Kona and just picked up dinner from Captain Cooks at the Polynesian. Kassidy had a chicken nuggets kids meal and I had a Hawaiian flat bread with ham and pineapple on it.

Once again, nothing to rave about, but it was good. Kass said her chicken nuggets were delicious, but my child lives on nuggets, so take that with a grain of salt. My flatbread wasn't wonderful, but I was hungry and happy to just eat something and be able to get up and go to bed. We were completely beat from traveling and being herded like cattle leaving the Studios.

Before we left, I remembered that we could get the infamous Dole Whip at Captain Cooks for dessert, so on our way out I picked up one for myself and my daughter to share. O.M.G. I can see how these things are so popular, Dole Whip is DELICIOUS!

So, would we eat at Captain Cooks again?

Mom: Maybe. If we stayed at the Poly again we would, but its not worth a special trip over there from another hotel when you can get Dole Whips in the MK.

Kassidy: Yes! I love chicken nuggets!

 

[mimi'sgirl]

I'm in. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews. Your daughter is adorable. My daughter would love the ears she has on.

 

[weswife]

Hi, I am enjoying the report! O'Hana is our fav. and a must do! We have purchased the family pic. for the last 4 yrs.!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Your daughter is so cute, enjoying your review and can't wait to read more.

 

[eaj1228]

Hello fellow Seattleite! I have taken the red eye flight from Seattle to Orlando and can relate to the total exhaustion you feel on the first day. You and your daughter are troopers!! The reviews are fab so far! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Disney coffee.

 

[ilovepete]

sound fun, im in!

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

what cutie pie kids!

 

[lizzyb]

I'm in! Great review soo far!

 

[jillbur]

Can't wait to hear the rest!

 

[crostorfer]

I'm in. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews. Your daughter is adorable. My daughter would love the ears she has on.

Thank you so much! She begged me for those mouse ears, so I broke down and bought them for her. Wouldn't you know it, they wouldn't stay on and I ended up carrying them around through the park most of the time, LOL!

 

[crostorfer]

I'm in. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews. Your daughter is adorable. My daughter would love the ears she has on.

Can't wait!

Love love love your screen name! I'm an xray tech. Thanks for happing on board!

 

[crostorfer]

Count me in!

Welcome! Thanks for joining me!

 

[crostorfer]

Hi, I am enjoying the report! O'Hana is our fav. and a must do! We have purchased the family pic. for the last 4 yrs.!

Welcome! Thanks for reading! I just said Ce La Vie! and purchased every photo we took at each meal, LOL. I loved wearing the lei's. Next time we go, I'm going to wear a Hawaiian shirt and ham it up!

 

[crostorfer]

Your daughter is so cute, enjoying your review and can't wait to read more.

Thank you! She is my cutie patootie! We had a wonderful time. Wait until you see her in her Cinderella dress!

 

[crostorfer]

Hello fellow Seattleite! I have taken the red eye flight from Seattle to Orlando and can relate to the total exhaustion you feel on the first day. You and your daughter are troopers!! The reviews are fab so far! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Disney coffee.

A big hello to my hometown homey! I was so grateful to have the nonstop on Alaska Airlines to Orlando. If we would have had to connect somewhere at 5 am we would have been completely shot! We didn't want to sleep, we just wanted to go-go-go, but by the time Fantasmic rolled around we were completely beat and probably just should have gone back to the hotel to rest...but lesson learned.