If There is a Princess, We Will Eat

[MVC1225]

I have been going to Disney my entire life but only in the past few trips have we started eating at Table Service Restaurants. I ate at a few when I was a child and when Epcot first opened but not since then really so it has been a while but we usually did not want to take time out from rides to eat. Now that we have had Table Service meals at several trips, I thought I would try my hand at a dining review for our last trip (sorry no pictures).

Normally our trips are adult only with just me and my girlfriend (we are annual passholders) but this time we decided to take her almost 3 year old niece for her first Disney visit. From the title, you can tell this was very character dining heavy (7 character meals in 4 days) since we did not want to line up for any character meet and greets. We arrived on Tuesday May 8th in the early evening and left Saturday May 12th in the afternoon.

As for our style of eating, I am by no means adventurous (I am usually meat and potatoes) but my family owned restaurants so I grew up in a restaurant kitchen and am used to eating out and judging service. My girlfriend is generally a more adventurous eater. Our niece was strictly pizza, chicken nuggets, and macaroni and cheese.

We were on the Deluxe Dining Plan for two adults.

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and just hung around Pop Century and ate at the food court. We had one plain and one pepperoni individual pizza with the tie dye cheesecake and a Minnie Mouse White Chocolate Chip Cookie for desserts. The pizza was typically Disney pizza so nothing extraordinary. The cookie and the tie dye cheesecake were fine although my GF did not like the cake crust on the cheesecake.

To Be Continued (all of the review is drafted so I am just editing)....

 

[SnwflkCts]

Oh how sweet to take your niece! I can't wait to hear all about your character meals!

 

[MVC1225]

Oh how sweet to take your niece! I can't wait to hear all about your character meals!

Thanks. She had a great time. We also got tons of autographs with no waiting in line in the hot weather.

 

[MVC1225]

Wednesday morning we had breakfast at 8:15 am at CRT. We checked in and were taken in immediately and we were done a few minutes before 9 am. They brought pastries to the table to share (these were nice and flaky). Our niece was served complimentary French toast sticks and apple juice. My GF had the stuffed French toast but it was not really stuffed with any discernable filling. We both thought it was good but we would probably not order that again. I had the Steak and Eggs and it was wonderful. It was my favorite meal of the trip. The steak was very tender and well seasoned, the onion frittata was slightly spicy, and the breakfast potatoes were also well seasoned. The character interaction was fine. Our “princess” was a little star struck so she did not interact with the princesses much but they all came by signed and took a few pictures with her. They helped her during the wishing ceremony and recalled her name later in the meal. The service was also no issue as our waitress came by quickly and checked on us several times. Overall, this was our favorite meal of the trip.

Wednesday lunch we went back to Pop Century for a break. I had the Beef and Blue sandwich and my GF had chicken nuggets. I picked a cupcake for dessert and she had a plain cheesecake. We paid OOP for a kids macaroni and cheese for our niece. The sandwich was very good and huge (easily could have shared). I was too full for the cupcake so I took it back to the room and never ate it so no review. The nuggets were your typical Disney nuggets which we both happen to like.

Wednesday dinner was Chef Mickey’s. We checked in a little before our ADR and were seated a few minutes later. Our niece had pizza which she ate only because we told her Mickey would not stop by unless she did since she was way too excited to eat. Again, she was a little character overwhelmed but she interacted more as the night went on. She loved the napkin celebration and Pluto in particular was great with her. As for the adults, we tried a little bit of everything and while none of the choices were incredible (except maybe the scalloped potatoes which I thought were very good) everything was good and well prepared. We also sampled various desserts and we enjoyed the bread pudding the best. The waiter here was attentive and our plates were cleared and we had refills on drinks fairly regularly.

 

[MVC1225]

Thursday we decided to relax in the morning and ate breakfast at Pop. I split the chocolate chip pancakes with our niece and my GF had the waffle. She enjoyed her waffle. The chocolate chip pancakes were not good (cold and dry). Our niece just had the bacon and some chocolate milk. I actually ended up getting a chocolate croissant as a snack credit in order to eat something.

Thursday lunch was at Akershus. We checked in at 1:20 for our 1:35 reservation and waited about 15-20 minutes so we were seated right on time. Our niece loved meeting Belle in the ball gown (that is her favorite princess) and she enjoyed the processional. She again nibbled at her pizza (complimentary from various choices) but she did eat turkey slices and bread from the buffet. We both had various things from the buffet – my favorites were the potato salad and the shrimp. I had the open face beef sandwich and the meat was very tender although the bread was a little hard. The soup was Cauliflower and my GF ate that. She liked it but nothing extraordinary. She had the meatballs with mashed potatoes and these were very good. For dessert, it served family style and it includes puff pastry with a cream filling and berries, rice pudding, and a chocolate mousse type dessert. All three were good. Service here was fine although plates took a while to clear. Also between the princess distractions and taking turns at the buffet, the entrees came out too soon and we were still eating appetizers. However, I prefer that than sitting around and waiting.

Thursday dinner was Garden Grill. I had eaten here before and I thought the food was good and the character interaction was great (although service before was very slow). Same results this time around. Our niece had the macaroni and cheese from the complementary kids plate (also included drumstick and sweet potato fries). We had the steak and turkey with the accompanying sides (we said no fish since neither one of us are big fish eaters). The first cut of steak was medium rare which is great for me but my GF likes it more well done so we asked for more steak and they brought out medium well slices for her which took a little bit to come out. We also asked for extra turkey and that came out promptly. We had very good service here and she checked in with us several times.

Days 4 and 5 to follow...

 

[MVC1225]

Friday morning we just grabbed snacks from Starring Rolls. We had the Cheese Danish (very good) and the Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake (which I thought was excellent). Our niece had half of a chocolate chip cookie and some milk. We get pastries from Starring Rolls every time we go to DHS so absolutely no complaints.

After finishing at DHS, we hopped over to AK and had lunch at Tusker House. We both had had lunch at Tusker House in January and this is our favorite buffet that we have had at Disney. In particular, I think the roast beef and the potatoes are excellent. We also both enjoy the hummus and my GF likes the cous cous and other various sides they have. We like that this buffet has something for the non-adventurous (like me) but also something for the more adventurous (like her). The only negative was that our niece fell asleep on the walk to the restaurant and slept through the entire meal. All the characters still took pictures with her asleep in the stroller (some funny pictures) and signed her book. Since she had met all these characters before (except Daisy) we just let her sleep. Service here was a little slow and we did not get drink refills promptly.

After a break at the hotel, we headed over to GF for 1900 Park Fare. We almost cancelled this ADR and I am so glad we did not. While the food was probably the worst of all the table service restaurants (all was prepared fine but there was not a huge amount of variety), the characters were OUTSTANDING. The Prince was perfectly charming and Cinderella was very sweet but what made the night were the stepmother and stepsisters. For some reason we still don’t understand, our niece was SUPER excited about meeting these three characters. She was over the moon when the stepmother danced with her. When we told the stepmother that she was soooo excited to meet her, the stepmother interacted with her for several minutes, took several posed pictures, asked her to come live with her (so long as she knew how to clean of course), and she was just wonderful. Drusilla was also very funny and made faces at her and for the pictures. Anastasia however was just incredible. She skips around the room and talks a mile a minute. Our niece had on a hot pink tiara and Anastasia wanted one with a purple diamond. Somehow she then veered off on how she was going to have a pirate get her one and then she would dump him because of the peg leg and parrot. She was hilarious and perfect. The two of us were laughing so hard with her we had tears in our eyes. No other meal even came close to the character interaction we had here. Service was good and very prompt. This was also the only table service meal where we waited past our ADR for more than a few minutes. Our ADR was at 8:15, we checked in at 8:00, and we were seated at 8:45.

 

[MVC1225]

Saturday (last day), we started with an 8:35 breakfast at Crystal Palace. We arrived late (about 8:45) and were seated promptly but just missed Pooh and Tigger. We had Eeyore and Piglet sign within the first 10 minutes we were there but we waited and waited for Pooh and Tigger to come around again. It took us over an hour to finish this meal and was our longest meal of the trip. The food is standard breakfast fare and was fine. The Puffed French Toast was very good. I enjoyed the food here more at lunch (which we had when we went in November 2011). Service was again good. Really the only issue was the 45 minute wait between the first two characters and the last two. Our niece was getting antsy and we had to give her the iPhone to play a game to keep her occupied as we were all done eating.

Saturday lunch was at our favorite QS in MK – Columbia Harbour House. I had the fried shrimp platter and my GF had the chicken nuggets. For dessert, we both had the apple crisps. Everything was as good as always. We left the park right after lunch.


Best Overall Table Service: CRT
Best Food Table Service: CRT (in particular my dish)
Best Character Interaction: 1900 Park Fare

Worst Overall Table Service: Crystal Palace
Worst Food Table Service: 1900 Park Fare
Worst Character Interaction: None really. All the characters were engaging and quite accommodating to the pictures we wanted to take.


Next trip is adult only, staying off site, and we have dinner reservations at Paradiso 37, Kouzzina, Raglan Road, and Via Napoli (dying to try the pizza). We have another adult trip on the Deluxe Dining Plan in September.

 

[grammimouse]

Wow !!! Great job. It sounds like it was a really good time. I agree about the stepmother and Cinderella's stepsisters, they are such a riot. We will be there in October and I just can't wait.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Thank you for taking the time to share your reviews! We love CRT and have had wonderful experiences there. We also had excellent character interaction with the Tremaine clan at 1900 PF (and also not-so-great food there). I'm getting worried about our planned ADR at CP for breakfast in August. It's been getting some pretty bad reviews lately.

 

[MVC1225]

Thank you for taking the time to share your reviews! We love CRT and have had wonderful experiences there. We also had excellent character interaction with the Tremaine clan at 1900 PF (and also not-so-great food there). I'm getting worried about our planned ADR at CP for breakfast in August. It's been getting some pretty bad reviews lately.

I would not return to CP again unless I had a big Pooh & friends lover in the group (which guessing by your name you are ). I can't really say anything was bad per se. I know some people love CP and I remember eating there as a child so for me it was very nostalgic when we ate there in November. Overall though, it is not worth the time or cost for us.

 

[MVC1225]

Wow !!! Great job. It sounds like it was a really good time. I agree about the stepmother and Cinderella's stepsisters, they are such a riot. We will be there in October and I just can't wait.

Thanks.