Just back from AKL - short report

[Tarpon]

We spent 6 days at AKL and two at Royal Pacific Resort at Universal.

Never again, will I go during the humid, hot summer season.

AKL – Very nice resort. Loved the theme. We booked standard room and got an upgrade to Savannah view. Saw lots of animals and that was nice, but it was a long trek and didn’t enjoy that.

Now, I may be amongst the miniscule minority but my impressions of dining is not good at Disney.

We dined at Jiko on first night. Showed up 10 minutes early. Was told to come back “on-time.” Did so. Made to wait 25 minutes. Not pleased. I told the manager that and we immediately got a table. Food was great. I would recommend it.

On to Boma. We ate breakfast here every single day. Nice selection. But spending $50 each day for three people made me wish we were on the dining plan. Good selection. Now dinner was another matter. I must say I was not pleased with dinner selections. While I loved the zebra domes and ate 6 in a row before my taste buds told me enough, I didn’t think a lot of other selections. Did like the salmon. That is about it. We didn’t go back to Boma for dinner. I wished we did after going to some others.

I would strongly urge everyone to not go to Wolfgang Puck dining room in Downtown Disney. We did and it was a disaster. The whole décor was black. Carpet was black, furniture was back, linens were black. When I called Disney dining for reservations, they asked me what time I would like to dine there. That should have given me a hint. They had 5 reservations when we showed up. Food was OK but overpriced. I will never again go there.

Chef Mickeys- We should have gone to Boma again. I thought the selection was not good. I was not impressed with the food at all. $30 for adult buffet dinner was too much for the quality. Of course my son enjoyed meeting with Mickey, Goofy, et al.

Crystal Springs in Magic Kingdom – Nice place to watch fireworks from but gets my vote as the worst place we dined at after Wolfgang Puck.

We ate at several other less significant restaurants. My dining experience tells me, we should either be on dining plan or cook our own. I am sure there are others we didn’t try that might be great, but what we have experienced, I will say is overrated.

On the other hand Emeril’s restaurant at Royal Pacific resort was fantastic. Food was great. Ambiance was very nice too.

We did as many rides in Disney as we could prior to coming back in the afternoon to take a shower and change clothes after muggy day. I would strongly recommend Soarin, Mission Space, Test Track at Epcot. We tried the old favorites in the other parks and enjoyed most.

Went to GF to check it out and my wife immediately said, “No wonder I thought AKL was dark.” What a beautiful place. Will try this next time.

Overall a nice vacation even though the dining was not good.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Thanks for your report! Sorry you didn't like the food. We have always really enjoyed the food at Chef Mickey's (for a buffet, that is); maybe you hit it on an "off" night?

I'm curious, how did you get the upgrade at AKL? Did you ask for it, or did it just happen? TIA

 

[Tarpon]

Didn't ask for an upgrade. Was just given.

 

[Viki]

Where is Crystal Springs? Do you mean Crystal Palace, the character buffet with Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore?

 

[Tarpon]

Yes. I meant Crystal Palace. Sorry.

 

[tar heel]

I think you would have been a lot happier doing table service restaurants instead of buffets. You liked Jiko, so you probably would have liked Marrakesh --my favorite Epcot restaurant. I love Disney food but have no interest in ever eating at Chef Mickey's again and we avoid the places that sound like they might be like CM such as Hollywood and Vine. I do like Boma, however, and have found the breakfast buffets to be good overall.

 

[Viki]

We're going to try CP for the first time this trip so that we can enjoy the characters (even though we're all adults, we love the 100 acre woods folks), but our expectations of the food are low/moderate, so we probably won't be disappointed.

I agree with you on Wolfgang Pucks. I just don't like it very much.

 

[DeirdreTours]

We love disney, but after a number of visits, have learned to view the food as fuel, not fine dining. Our kids love the character meals and so we view the cost of these as entertainment cost rather than dining cost.

Also, I think that it is very hard for this huge group of disney fans to discuss food with any real meaning. Many people on this forum rave about restaurants I have found to be abysmally bad. I suspect that those people would be appalled at the food I consider great.....In short, some of us are keeping places like the "Olive Garden" in business and some of us....aren't.

 

[Tarpon]

We ate at Nine Dragons at Epcot. Not impressed. I guess my expectations of food after reading the raves here was without merit.

 

[tar heel]

We've never eaten at Nine Dragons b/c of the awful reviews it consistently gets, but we have had some very good meals at other Epcot restaurants. I ike Boma's dinner better than you did -- it's the only buffet we do now that Akershus has been princessized. I think I mainly like the variety in things like salads and the soups, though.

While you might not be raving, I think you would feel better about Disney food if you hadn't gone to Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace. When I planned my first trip via DIS boards, I read a lot of raves about Chef Mickey's and dutifully made a reservation for the first night. I thought I was at Golden Corral and the parmesan mashed potatoes everyone raves about were so obviously potato flakes. I think the fact that the character buffets are so overpriced makes the meal seem even worse, too.

 

[PamNC]

We went in early July and were also a bit disappointed with the dining experiences we had at Disney. In the past, dining was a big part of our trips and we really looked forward to the meals. This time, however we were not pleased. Not every restaurant we tried was a disappointment. On a scale of 1-10 - I'll rate the restaurants we visited...10 being the best. I may comment on service but the ratings are solely based on food quality/taste.

DINNER OR LUNCH:
Blue Zoo - 10!! Service and food were excellent.
CA Grille - 10!! Ditto
Concourse Steakhouse - 2 Horrible food. This was an old fave. WAS!
Chefs de France - 3 Food was like warmed over and not fresh.
Le Cellier - 4 Again, use to be an old fave.
Palio - 9 - Great food and service!
Beaches and Cream - 5 again, another old fave.
Yachtsman Steakhouse - 5 - again, another 10+ drops down the scale!

BREAKFAST:
Kona Cafe - 8 - use to be a 10.
Boatwrights - 10!
Fresh - 9
Yacht Club Galley - 2

All in all, dining didn't live up to our expectations. I, like another poster, will probably start thinking of the food @ Disney as fuel with the exception of a few great restaurants. Long live CA Grille and Blue Zoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PamNC

 

[Viki]

Yes, Pam. I agree that you have to work a bit to find the "10" meal at WDW.

But, on the other hand, the truth is I don't want a "10" at every meal. Sometimes I merely want a good enough garden burger (and there is good enough and then there is awful). Sometimes a nice character buffet that lights up our spirits and not our palettes hits the spot. Sometimes a decadent piece of super chocolate cake at, gasp, Planet Hollywood, is exactly what I want. And, then, yes, sometimes it's nice to look forward to a "10" at the California Grill or the Brown Derby or the Flying Fish and have that realized.

This trip I'm taking the family to O'hanas and I am not expecting an awe inspiring culinary experience, but I am expecting the food and the atmosphere to be fun.