bellarella
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2005
This was our first trip on the dining plan and I think it worked well for us. Unfortunately I didn't use snack credits the way I wanted to -- I just wasn't at the places I wanted to be for yummy snacks when I was hungry and it was too much to ask 3 kids under 6 to hike across a park so mommy could get her funnel cake. 
I have to say, over all I was not as impressed with dining as our last trip. I don't know if my expectations were higher or the quality was lower.
Table Service:
Coral Reef Dinner: Grade C
I actually wish I had skipped this TS. We had early reservations and it threw a kink into our day. DD#1 wanted a fancy restaurant, though and I thought the aquarium would hold DS (age 1) attention. Our waitress was not particularly friendly or helpful (we asked that the meal move along at a pretty good clip since we had a time bomb toddler). She generally sort of grunted at us. We needed soy milk and soy ice cream for my lactose intolerant DD. For her ice cream she didn't bring her out sprinkles because they had some dairy in them. I tried to explain that she could have dairy as long as it wasn't in the form of a glass of milk, or bowl of ice cream or a ton of whipped cream but she was already walking away.
I also want to note that the atmosphere wasn't what I expected. I thought the aquarium wrapped more around the perimeter of the restaurant rather than just being on one side. It was more like a stage that the tables were oriented towards rather than being around the whole restaurant. This was my mistake, but I wanted to mention it for others. I didn't think the tables at the top tier were very good at all (we were lucky and were on the bottom across the aisle from the tank).
As for food, it was ok, but not great. For appetizers my dad and DH had the crab claws which were good. I had the lobster bisque which was light on the lobster flavor and need a bit more "umph" to the seasoning. My mom had the seafood souffle, which she really liked, but I found too heavy for a souffle -- it was more like a custard consistancy.
For our main courses, my dad had the tuna, which he ordered rare. Well it came to the table frozen in the center -- a little too rare.
DH had the Mahi Mahi which he didn't particularly care for. The soy glaze was over-powering. I had the steak which was good as were the au gratin potatoes. My mother had the salmon, which was the best of the bunch.
For dessert, 3 of us went with the chocolate wave, which was very good, but had a bit of a starchy aftertaste to it. My mom went with the butterscotch creme brule. She and my dad enjoyed that, but though I like both butterscotch and creme brulee, found the combo didn't work for me.
1900 Park Faire Dinner: Grade A
Once again Park Faire didn't disappoint. The food quality, for a buffet, was excellent. The carving stations offered a very nice cut of prime rib. The egg rolls were excellent and the penne with shrimp and asparagus was very good. I also enjoyed the tomato florentine soup. And DD#1 was thrilled with the peel and eat shrimp. Desserts are also very good, though I have to say my bread pudding is better than theirs
The staff here was very good about getting my DD rice cream instead of the ice cream. They actually listened that it was only milk/ice cream my DD had trouble with and asked me what I was comfortable giving her.
Character interaction was excellent. The CM in charge of the characters was very attentive to our table. I think it had a lot to do with our location -- we were in the center of the center room where he was standing, but rather than standing and ignoring the fact we were a few feet in front of us, he would occasionally chat with us and kept tabs on who had been to our table. Suzy came by several times (and admonished me that I kept calling her Pearla)
and we were able to see all of the characters before we finished our meal.
Hollywood & Vine Lunch: Grade D
This was a disappointing meal. The food was pretty bad. There were cold cuts for sandwiches thank goodness because I didn't care for any of the hot offerings. The flavors were just wrong on the things I tried. Either there wasn't enough flavoring (pasta with tomato and mushroom -- and pretty much nothing else, even salt and pepper helped this dish), or mismatched (the flank steak which seemed to have a little of everything out of the spice cabinet). The desserts were pretty good, though. I enjoyed the berry cobbler and a fruit tart.
Character interaction wasn't very good here either. All the characters seemed like <shield your children's eyes> people in costumes -- bored people at that.
There was no life to any of them. Goliath seemed to try a bit -- I think to make up for the fact he couldn't sign autograph books (paws you know). But the others came by, signed stood stiffly for a picture, maybe gave a half hearted wave and moved on. It wasn't the amount of time they spent, but rather that everything seemed very mechanical. Which was a shame because we really thought our two younger children would enjoy interacting with the Playhouse crew.
Kona Cafe Dinner: Grade B
This was a "date" for DH and I (my parents took the kids for the evening
). We loved Kona when we stayed at the Poly and were looking forward to going back. It wasn't quite as good as remembered, but that could be because I didn't order well on my entree. Appetizers were fabulous. DH got the crab cakes, which were moist and well seasoned. I got the duck dumplings, which were also very good. Great flavor and cooked perfectly. We both ordered the shrimp and scallops. I was disappointed with this dish. DH liked it better than me. The shrimp were supposed to be panko encrusted. To me that translate to a light, flaky coating. These were more like breaded shrimp. It was to heavy and too fried for my liking. The shrimp itself though was good and well cooked. I didn't care for the preparation of scallops either. They were warmed rather than hot (which is fine with sushi grade scallops, but I prefer my shellfish heated through). I think I would have like the ones off of DH's plate better because they were more seared on the outside with some caramelization. (He would have shared if I had asked, but I was feeling full anyway.) I was really full this night as was DH so we took the White Chocolate Cheesecake to go. The chocolate torte was very tempting, but would not have been good the next day (the liquid center wouldn't be liquid anymore). The cheesecake made and excellent breakfast.
Chef Mickey's Breakfast: Grade B+
We had a disastrous dinner here our last trip (felt like the food was going to give me food poisoning because it was left out too long at the wrong temp), but the characters were so much fun we decided to give breakfast a try. I'm glad we did because it was a blast. The food was standard breakfast fare with special notes to the cheesy potatoes and the mickey waffles. The characters were great -- everything they weren't at Hollywood and Vine. They were lively and interactive and engaged the kids. All of our kids (even the 1 year old) loved waving the napkins and generally had a great time.
That's the good, bad (and fortunately no ugly) on the TS we had. Next up, CS!!!
I have to say, over all I was not as impressed with dining as our last trip. I don't know if my expectations were higher or the quality was lower.Table Service:
Coral Reef Dinner: Grade C
I actually wish I had skipped this TS. We had early reservations and it threw a kink into our day. DD#1 wanted a fancy restaurant, though and I thought the aquarium would hold DS (age 1) attention. Our waitress was not particularly friendly or helpful (we asked that the meal move along at a pretty good clip since we had a time bomb toddler). She generally sort of grunted at us. We needed soy milk and soy ice cream for my lactose intolerant DD. For her ice cream she didn't bring her out sprinkles because they had some dairy in them. I tried to explain that she could have dairy as long as it wasn't in the form of a glass of milk, or bowl of ice cream or a ton of whipped cream but she was already walking away.
I also want to note that the atmosphere wasn't what I expected. I thought the aquarium wrapped more around the perimeter of the restaurant rather than just being on one side. It was more like a stage that the tables were oriented towards rather than being around the whole restaurant. This was my mistake, but I wanted to mention it for others. I didn't think the tables at the top tier were very good at all (we were lucky and were on the bottom across the aisle from the tank).
As for food, it was ok, but not great. For appetizers my dad and DH had the crab claws which were good. I had the lobster bisque which was light on the lobster flavor and need a bit more "umph" to the seasoning. My mom had the seafood souffle, which she really liked, but I found too heavy for a souffle -- it was more like a custard consistancy.
For our main courses, my dad had the tuna, which he ordered rare. Well it came to the table frozen in the center -- a little too rare.
DH had the Mahi Mahi which he didn't particularly care for. The soy glaze was over-powering. I had the steak which was good as were the au gratin potatoes. My mother had the salmon, which was the best of the bunch. For dessert, 3 of us went with the chocolate wave, which was very good, but had a bit of a starchy aftertaste to it. My mom went with the butterscotch creme brule. She and my dad enjoyed that, but though I like both butterscotch and creme brulee, found the combo didn't work for me.
1900 Park Faire Dinner: Grade A
Once again Park Faire didn't disappoint. The food quality, for a buffet, was excellent. The carving stations offered a very nice cut of prime rib. The egg rolls were excellent and the penne with shrimp and asparagus was very good. I also enjoyed the tomato florentine soup. And DD#1 was thrilled with the peel and eat shrimp. Desserts are also very good, though I have to say my bread pudding is better than theirs
The staff here was very good about getting my DD rice cream instead of the ice cream. They actually listened that it was only milk/ice cream my DD had trouble with and asked me what I was comfortable giving her.Character interaction was excellent. The CM in charge of the characters was very attentive to our table. I think it had a lot to do with our location -- we were in the center of the center room where he was standing, but rather than standing and ignoring the fact we were a few feet in front of us, he would occasionally chat with us and kept tabs on who had been to our table. Suzy came by several times (and admonished me that I kept calling her Pearla)
and we were able to see all of the characters before we finished our meal.Hollywood & Vine Lunch: Grade D
This was a disappointing meal. The food was pretty bad. There were cold cuts for sandwiches thank goodness because I didn't care for any of the hot offerings. The flavors were just wrong on the things I tried. Either there wasn't enough flavoring (pasta with tomato and mushroom -- and pretty much nothing else, even salt and pepper helped this dish), or mismatched (the flank steak which seemed to have a little of everything out of the spice cabinet). The desserts were pretty good, though. I enjoyed the berry cobbler and a fruit tart.
Character interaction wasn't very good here either. All the characters seemed like <shield your children's eyes> people in costumes -- bored people at that.
There was no life to any of them. Goliath seemed to try a bit -- I think to make up for the fact he couldn't sign autograph books (paws you know). But the others came by, signed stood stiffly for a picture, maybe gave a half hearted wave and moved on. It wasn't the amount of time they spent, but rather that everything seemed very mechanical. Which was a shame because we really thought our two younger children would enjoy interacting with the Playhouse crew.Kona Cafe Dinner: Grade B
This was a "date" for DH and I (my parents took the kids for the evening
). We loved Kona when we stayed at the Poly and were looking forward to going back. It wasn't quite as good as remembered, but that could be because I didn't order well on my entree. Appetizers were fabulous. DH got the crab cakes, which were moist and well seasoned. I got the duck dumplings, which were also very good. Great flavor and cooked perfectly. We both ordered the shrimp and scallops. I was disappointed with this dish. DH liked it better than me. The shrimp were supposed to be panko encrusted. To me that translate to a light, flaky coating. These were more like breaded shrimp. It was to heavy and too fried for my liking. The shrimp itself though was good and well cooked. I didn't care for the preparation of scallops either. They were warmed rather than hot (which is fine with sushi grade scallops, but I prefer my shellfish heated through). I think I would have like the ones off of DH's plate better because they were more seared on the outside with some caramelization. (He would have shared if I had asked, but I was feeling full anyway.) I was really full this night as was DH so we took the White Chocolate Cheesecake to go. The chocolate torte was very tempting, but would not have been good the next day (the liquid center wouldn't be liquid anymore). The cheesecake made and excellent breakfast.Chef Mickey's Breakfast: Grade B+
We had a disastrous dinner here our last trip (felt like the food was going to give me food poisoning because it was left out too long at the wrong temp), but the characters were so much fun we decided to give breakfast a try. I'm glad we did because it was a blast. The food was standard breakfast fare with special notes to the cheesy potatoes and the mickey waffles. The characters were great -- everything they weren't at Hollywood and Vine. They were lively and interactive and engaged the kids. All of our kids (even the 1 year old) loved waving the napkins and generally had a great time.
That's the good, bad (and fortunately no ugly) on the TS we had. Next up, CS!!!
Im surprised to hear that egg rolls held up well on the buffet at 1900. They seem to be one of those things that the texture would start to deteriorate even after being cooked 10 min ago
