Inventions - reviews

[Cyrano]

This buffet service restaurant is located in the Disneyland Hotel.
In the evening a character buffet is available.

There is also a Character Brunch on Sunday with effect from Spring 2010 but please note characters are not present at lunch-time Monday through Saturday.

 

[pink_angel]

hiya, well we went to inventions on our trip 14th may, we also stayed at the disneyland hotel 2 night 3 days

inventions was tottaly unforgettable. had the buffet meal, couldnt fault that at all. was even better as this was a birthday meal for me and mum
never expereinced the characters coming to the table, which was amazing. tweedly dee and teedle dum, were really funny and when i young girl tried to get an autograph she was polity sent back to wait her turn..very impressed with that
then along came happy from snow white, was very pleased that you wernt rushed with them, they stay with you for a long while all photos etc.

then minnie came to us, noticing we had birthday banners, and she wanted to party lol, she danced with us and posed for loads of pics and kisses

then my star mickey, was so pleased to actualy meet him, and have proper pic with him, met him on our first visit but was in the park and was surrounded by kids lol.

when we booked our trip we ordered with disneyland birthday cake, never expected what came with it...the happy birthday to ya song, all the staff cheering and waving napkins in the air, and then pinocchio turned up and came to presnt our cake. was just amazing,

the cake itself...was so worth the £15, never seen a chocolate cake like it...it did take a few days to eat, it was sooooo yummy

the staff, food character interaction was just 1st class, everything about the hotel was brill!

i do have pics of the cake, but dont know how to post it up.

cat

 

[Cyrano]

We ate here during summer season. The food offering is an extensive buffet offering. Quite a fair bit of seafood.
Disappointing that children's offering was smiley potatoe shapes and the like. You know the ones that don't have any potatoe in them
We just picked from the extensive range in the adults choices for the kids.

Unfortunately the main reason for going here was the character meal. Others had raved about their experiences
We had arrived at 6pm prompt and waited more than 1/2 hour before the first characters came out. By the time we had eaten we had seen Eeyore, Goofy, Smee and Gideon.

Based on our experience we would not be back in a hurry.

 

[marcus.ka]

We had arrived at 6pm prompt and waited more than 1/2 hour before the first characters came out.

The characters are not there the whole evening. I think they are present from 19:00 - 22:00. That's why you get a reduction if you have dinner at 18:00.

 

[Cyrano]

The characters are not there the whole evening. I think they are present from 19:00 - 22:00. That's why you get a reduction if you have dinner at 18:00.

We were told the characters were there from 6pm and apart from annual passport discount received no other reduction

Anyway, as said in post #1 this is a review thread so if the board can please post your own experiences either good or otherwise this will help to inform others of the variety of choices available

 

[wideeyes]

we ate here and was disappointed, the character interaction we felt was poor, the characters were often not around for long periods, when they did appear they were very reserved and did not interact with the children very well. We felt the CM was trying to rush us through our courses, we were trying to take longer to eat as DD wanted to meet Mickey. The food was average, lukewarm and the child's selection was poor. It was not worth the high price they charge.

 

[marcus.ka]

We have been there in September 2004. (So a while ago – maybe something has changed since then)
Back then it was the greatest dinner experience we ever had at the resort. It is quite expensive but the range of food was just great. I have never seen such a great buffet. (We ate for more than two hours!) And they even have a children buffet. And the characters interaction was also outstanding. They came to every table. (I think like at Café Mickey)
And except for the great food and the lovely character interaction you also get a view to the park/castle/Mainstreet.
It is just great if you can see the Castle at night with all the lights and decoration while Mickey and Minnie are visiting your table.
For us it was worth the money.

 

[quirkygirl]

Just got back last night from Disneyland and have to say that Innventions was without doubt the worst meal we had. It was just mediocre. We had so many good meals at a lot less cost, that it realy stood out as a disappointment. Go to the Lucky Nugget Saloon... much better at half the price with great food and atmospherse and tons of characters. Or if its finer dining your after i'd recommend Walts or Auberge(both excellent)

 

[pigby]

Just got back last night from Disneyland and have to say that Innventions was without doubt the worst meal we had. It was just mediocre. We had so many good meals at a lot less cost, that it realy stood out as a disappointment. Go to the Lucky Nugget Saloon... much better at half the price with great food and atmospherse and tons of characters. Or if its finer dining your after i'd recommend Walts or Auberge(both excellent)

This was exactly our experience last May - Walts was far better - and we also loved the Auberge and Lucky Nugget at Christmas.

 

[cstokell]

We ate at Inventions twice during our last visit and loved it both times.

There were four adults and two little princesses (age 6).

We all really enjoy seafood and the two girls loved being able to have plates full of prawns and smoked salmon.

The starters were fantastic with prawns, crayfish, smoked salmon, gravadlax, melon, Serrano ham, olives, capers, carpaccio and loads more to choose from.

The main courses always included one fish dish, one chicken dish, one pork dish, one veal dish, one beef dish and one lamb dish. The meats/fish are all cooked in different sauces. The choice was different on both days but the Irish Stew was the best I had ever tasted, though I found the chicken with grapes a little strange. With this being an all you can buffet if you do find something you do not like then you just go back and try something else.

The children always had main courses from the adult selection and stayed well away from the "Smiley Faces", with the exception of the chicken nuggets, which unlike many of the mushed and shaped chicken nuggets were actually strips of chicken breast. Again we found the buffet to be ideal for the girls because we were able to get them small bits of new things for them to try and then if they liked get them more.

The desserts where lovely as well, though by the time we got to them we were normally very full.

We really could not fault the food, even if some of it was not to our taste we always found more than enough things we did like. I would not recommend this restaurant for a vegetarian though, as I think their choice would be very limited.

I know that different people have had many varying experiences in this restaurant; we have been to Inventions four times and have always had a great time. I don't know if this has anything to do with it but, we noticed on our last visit that the restaurant is almost split into three different sections and that the levels of service and atmosphere seem to differ depending on where you are sat.

The first area is directly opposite the buffet, it seems a lot more chaotic here and you seem much more packed in. It is very noisy here and busy especially as you have everyone accessing the buffet. We have never been seated in this area but there does not seem to be much atmosphere.

The second area is to the left of the buffet, down some stairs, it is less crowded here and not nearly as rushed and is much quieter, though a little further from the buffet. This area is full of atmosphere and the characters spend a lot of time at each table.

The third area is to the right as you enter the restaurant, directly below the CC lounge. This area is not crowded and the level of service is excellent. It almost seemed as though each table had there own waiter, plates were cleared immediately. We also received a very good "neck massage" from waiter and he spent a lot of time entertaining the children. We were not rushed and we felt totally relaxed in this area. The character interaction was similar to that in the second area.

I don't know if there is supposed to be these different areas and or if it is just the luck of the draw where you sit, though we did enjoy the experience much more in third area. (We did wonder though whether this third area was for CC guest as we did recognise several of the other groups from the CC lounge?)

 

[Cyrano]

The third area is to the right as you enter the restaurant, directly below the CC lounge. This area is not crowded and the level of service is excellent. It almost seemed as though each table had there own waiter, plates were cleared immediately. We also received a very good "neck massage" from waiter and he spent a lot of time entertaining the children. We were not rushed and we felt totally relaxed in this area. The character interaction was similar to that in the second area.

This was the area we were in but had a completely different not so great experience as reviewed above, so guess it must be the luck of the draw

 

[Willem]

We had dinner at Inventions a few times and I have to say the quality went downwards through the years. Especially the service. The food is good, but you eat much better at the other "expensive hotel restaurants" (California Grill, Manhattan or Yacht Club). Service was perfect before but last time the servers tried to get you out asap. The characters interaction was less fun too. But it still is a nice experience if you like character dinners. For good food I would go to the other restaurants I mentioned above.

 

[hildasmuriel]

We ate here on Tuesday 8 April.

The food was superb - I can't remember it all but it included...
starters:

tortillas and guacamole, melon, pork pie, pate, smoked salmon, prawns, mussels (I think - something in a shell anyway) parma ham, smoked turkey, mozarella in balsamic vinegar, tomato slices, salad, potato salad, coleslaw

mains:
duck in pear marinade, pork, beef & green peppers, (some sort of) rib, chicken skewers, 2 or 3 fish dishes, roast potatoes, vegetables, leek risotto, pasta farfalle, spag bol, mashed potato. For younger children there was pizza, chicken shapes and smiley faces

desserts:
chocolate fountain with fresh starwberries for dipping, sweets, ice-lollies, doughnuts, madelaines, cakes, cheesecake, rhubard tart, apple tart

The characters we saw were Launchpad McQuack, Eyeore, Pluto, Mickey, Geppetto, Goofy and a penguin from Mary Poppins.

Our waiter was nice. We had a Castle view. It was and and and I want to go again.

 

[MazdaUK]

We ate there on Wednesday 9 April and like Hildasmuriel had a great time.

We were seated at 6.00pm on the dot and saw the same characters (except didn't see Mickey, but did see Pinnochio). The characters were very interactive, messing about with everyone, and the food was wonderful - and believe me, that is not something I've said about Disney food before very often!We were opposite the buffet with a view of the castle, and that was great as we didn't fear we'd miss characters by going to the buffet (unlike Chef Mickeys in WDW where we only saw 4 characters and it was really noisy and unrelaxing all through the meal).

Out of all the dishes we tried the only disappointment was the beef dish, which was a bit too chewy (though the flavour was good). Everything else was of very good quality, though I did get a bit surprised by curry in the potato salad and the pasta which I think should have said on the label. WOuld eat there again.

 

[A Small World]

We ate here for the first time on 28th March and loved it

The food was amazing with lots of unusual things as well - stuffed vine leaves, asparagus tips, artichoke for starters as well as the above

beef, pork quail, vegetarian Lasagne, rice, pasta, mash, other potatoes etc etc for main course and a massive selection for dessert including of course the chocolate fountain.

We saw the same characters as Hildasmuriel except it was Minnie instead of Mickey and they all spent time chatting and playing at the tables

We ate at 6.00 when it opened which meant we had time to get our starter then the first characters appeared. It was quite quiet at this time which was nice as it meant the characters came to our table quickly.

We will definitely eat here again - there are photos and a fuller report in my trippie - Yeeha A fist full of Euros part 7

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Im thinking of eating here in September. How much was the buffet, and what is the best time to eat would you say?

 

[A Small World]

I cant remember exactly how much it cost- think it was about €40 for an adult but it was definitely worth it. There was so much choice of food which was absolutely delicious.
We booked for 6.00 when it opened and found this to be a good time as the buffet was all fresh, we had time to get ourselves sorted then the characters started coming round and there werent too many people there at that time so they had longer to spend with us.
There is more info about our visit there in our trip report from Easter- think it was next to last part.

We enjoyed it so much we are going there again in Summer to celebrate our wedding anniversary

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I cant remember exactly how much it cost- think it was about €40 for an adult but it was definitely worth it. There was so much choice of food which was absolutely delicious.
We booked for 6.00 when it opened and found this to be a good time as the buffet was all fresh, we had time to get ourselves sorted then the characters started coming round and there werent too many people there at that time so they had longer to spend with us.
There is more info about our visit there in our trip report from Easter- think it was next to last part.

We enjoyed it so much we are going there again in Summer to celebrate our wedding anniversary

Hi thanks for the info.
Think i'll be also booking this for our trip in September

 

[hildasmuriel]

It was 49 Euros per adult when we ate there last month.

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

As its a buffet wil my 2yo eat free?