mickeystoontown
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2006
Food, I need food! Oooh, this is strange!
This post will be wordy with not a lot of my own pictures. You will recall in my first post that I said I tell it like it is and, even though I am a Disney lover through and through, I also don't cut the mouse any slack.
We had visited El Mercado before and had gotten drinks and a snack there so we knew what it was like pre-Covid. The visit was also prior to Disney overhauling the food court which, if I am recalling correctly, was most a cosmetic makeover.
The food court is set up with several different stations which each serve different food items. There's also a section of grab n go cold items just to the right of the hot stations. Way over to the left is a dessert station with pre-packaged desserts and some that a cast member will take out for guests. Each of the hot stations had digital menus listing their selections. I'm borrowing some pictures from the internet to show you. There weren't any cast members really "tending" to the station. They would only approach guests if the guest stood there and waited for them to acknowledge them. Then they would ask what they wanted. If it were a special item (like my daughter-in-law who ordered a veggie burger later in the trip), they would prepare it right then. Otherwise, the cast members were walking around in the back and bringing food periodically to the stations where they slid them into the warming shelves/racks.
Okay, so the set up was like pretty much identical to other resort food courts.
EXCEPT! and this is a big EXCEPT! In the pictures above, most of the food items are wrapped or boxed. When we were there, almost everything was just in a paper tray and open. No covers! Most food items were also at the same height as a person's chest or face depending on if it was on the bottom shelf or the top shelf. We saw a lot of guests walk over to the food, pick it up, look at it and put it back. (I even had a cast member at the register tell me that I could take a biscuit back and trade it out for one that I thought I had originally picked up. I didn't) An open container of food was put back! It should have never been up there without a cover in the first place! I got a bacon cheeseburger and this is how it was on the shelf (I took the bun off so I could take a picture) but look at it! Just in a paper tray with no cover. And it had been sitting there!
The burger fixings were at least in a little paper pouch in the cooler and it was sealed:
John's selection was a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and it was wrapped in foil. The fries were in the tray.
If the food had not been pre-prepared and left out for anyone and everyone to come by and touch and breath on, it would have been okay. I know! I know! The chef and the servers handled it but that's different.
I am not a germaphobe by any means but we were/are in a pandemic. These were the safety measures Coronado Springs was taking? I didn't like it at all! The food wasn't bad but it wasn't outstanding either. We both ate enough to fill our stomachs and then tossed the rest in the trash. John and I discussed the possibility that this may be a one time thing and they were short staffed that day. We were just starting our trip and had at least a couple of more resort days so we'd have an opportunity to try it again later.
The day was lovely and we were enjoying the sunshine as we walked back to the room. Laguna bar had not opened for the day. (not that we would have tried it but I still made note of it for anyone who may ask).
When we got to our building, I took a picture of our decorated window. See, I didn't go overboard with the decor. Just enough to make it festive.
We called Mama to check in and see what she was doing. The kids were both at work so we couldn't call them yet. I put my phone on to charge and we made the short walk to the Cabanas beach to relax a bit. I am glad that we made the decision to not plan anything on this day. We needed a recharge before we started hitting the parks.
**Up next: Dining with the dinos!
This post will be wordy with not a lot of my own pictures. You will recall in my first post that I said I tell it like it is and, even though I am a Disney lover through and through, I also don't cut the mouse any slack.
We had visited El Mercado before and had gotten drinks and a snack there so we knew what it was like pre-Covid. The visit was also prior to Disney overhauling the food court which, if I am recalling correctly, was most a cosmetic makeover.
The food court is set up with several different stations which each serve different food items. There's also a section of grab n go cold items just to the right of the hot stations. Way over to the left is a dessert station with pre-packaged desserts and some that a cast member will take out for guests. Each of the hot stations had digital menus listing their selections. I'm borrowing some pictures from the internet to show you. There weren't any cast members really "tending" to the station. They would only approach guests if the guest stood there and waited for them to acknowledge them. Then they would ask what they wanted. If it were a special item (like my daughter-in-law who ordered a veggie burger later in the trip), they would prepare it right then. Otherwise, the cast members were walking around in the back and bringing food periodically to the stations where they slid them into the warming shelves/racks.
Okay, so the set up was like pretty much identical to other resort food courts.
EXCEPT! and this is a big EXCEPT! In the pictures above, most of the food items are wrapped or boxed. When we were there, almost everything was just in a paper tray and open. No covers! Most food items were also at the same height as a person's chest or face depending on if it was on the bottom shelf or the top shelf. We saw a lot of guests walk over to the food, pick it up, look at it and put it back. (I even had a cast member at the register tell me that I could take a biscuit back and trade it out for one that I thought I had originally picked up. I didn't) An open container of food was put back! It should have never been up there without a cover in the first place! I got a bacon cheeseburger and this is how it was on the shelf (I took the bun off so I could take a picture) but look at it! Just in a paper tray with no cover. And it had been sitting there!
The burger fixings were at least in a little paper pouch in the cooler and it was sealed:
John's selection was a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and it was wrapped in foil. The fries were in the tray.
If the food had not been pre-prepared and left out for anyone and everyone to come by and touch and breath on, it would have been okay. I know! I know! The chef and the servers handled it but that's different.
I am not a germaphobe by any means but we were/are in a pandemic. These were the safety measures Coronado Springs was taking? I didn't like it at all! The food wasn't bad but it wasn't outstanding either. We both ate enough to fill our stomachs and then tossed the rest in the trash. John and I discussed the possibility that this may be a one time thing and they were short staffed that day. We were just starting our trip and had at least a couple of more resort days so we'd have an opportunity to try it again later.
The day was lovely and we were enjoying the sunshine as we walked back to the room. Laguna bar had not opened for the day. (not that we would have tried it but I still made note of it for anyone who may ask).
When we got to our building, I took a picture of our decorated window. See, I didn't go overboard with the decor. Just enough to make it festive.
We called Mama to check in and see what she was doing. The kids were both at work so we couldn't call them yet. I put my phone on to charge and we made the short walk to the Cabanas beach to relax a bit. I am glad that we made the decision to not plan anything on this day. We needed a recharge before we started hitting the parks.
**Up next: Dining with the dinos!
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