Just Back from Free Dining -- Any ?'s

[3forWDW]

My family and I just returned from an 8 day trip (9/2 - 9/10) where we stayed at ASMo and was on the Free Dining Plan. Here's a list of the places we ate (keep in my two pre-teen boys only wanted counter service burgers & chicken )

Numerous counter service meals at All Star Movies Food Court
Planet Hollywood (twice)
Chef Mickey's
Crystal Palace
1900 Park Fare Character Breakfast
Donald's Breakfastsaurus at Animal Kingdom (Character Meal)
Concourse Steak House
MGM Backlot Counter Service
Snacks from DTD, Parks, and ASMo

Not much excitement -- kids wanted rides, arcade, and pools more than food!! Much to mom's disappointment! Still saved a lot of money with Free Dining than paying for the meals.

 

[dreamergirl78]

Hey there! Welcome back and I hope you had a wonderful trip.
We are planning on using the voucher at Planet Hollywood on our off day and I was wondering how it went for you. I am assuming ok since you ate there twice! Did you use the voucher and if so how were the items that you were allowed to order?
Thanks!

 

[CheapMom]

I have a ?- not about food so much- but how is the pool situation at ASMO? Did you have to use the Mighty Ducks pool?

 

[jrasmom]

I have a ?- not about food so much- but how is the pool situation at ASMO? Did you have to use the Mighty Ducks pool?

THAT was going to be my question!! Actually, my husbands, he is reading over my shoulder and we're leaving for our first trip to the World staying at ASMO next Saturday!

Okay...food wise...how is the food at the ASMO food court?

 

[3forWDW]

Hey there! Welcome back and I hope you had a wonderful trip.
We are planning on using the voucher at Planet Hollywood on our off day and I was wondering how it went for you. I am assuming ok since you ate there twice! Did you use the voucher and if so how were the items that you were allowed to order?
Thanks!

We were on Free Dining, so we didn't use the voucher. So I'm not alot of help there. Sorry. Food was good at Planet. Your regular TGIF, Applebee's kind of stuff. Restaurant has alot of neat memorabilia, but is rather dark and very noisy! Of course, with two boys the noise just goes along with them!!

 

[Hope73]

I can't wait for our trip.

 

[3forWDW]

THAT was going to be my question!! Actually, my husbands, he is reading over my shoulder and we're leaving for our first trip to the World staying at ASMO next Saturday!

Okay...food wise...how is the food at the ASMO food court?

We were very lucky with the pool situation. We checked out on Sunday, 9/10 and the pool was scheduled to close on Monday 9/11. However, my boys checked out the Mighty Duck Pool also. We stayed in the Fantasia Building so it was a short walk to the Mighty Duck area, but not real bad. (It's not like you aren't gonna be walking miles every day anyway!!) They liked the Mighty Duck Pool and would have used it even more if we would have been down that way where I could keep an eye on them. It had a deeper area that they really liked and was not as crowded as the main pool. I did see some people checking in on Sunday that were surprised to find out that the pool was closing. Cast Member said letters had been sent out, but some people must not have got them. Can't help very much with any more info since when we left it was still open.

Food wise, my family enjoyed the ASMo food court. With a 9 and 12 year old, it was great that they could pick out what they wanted and not have to "waste" alot of time sitting in a restaurant. We had a variety of things: burgers, chicken sandwich, steak sandwich, noodles made to order (VERY good), meatball sub, taco salad, pizza. It was all very good, hot, and fresh. One piece of advice that I learned -- if you want ice cream for your dessert (or anything else for that matter) but don't want it right then with your meal, just tell the cashier and you can come back and get it any time before midnight on that same day. They just mark your ticket. The kids really liked this, because they could eat their meal, go swimming, and then go back and get their milkshake or ice cream. Cast members in the food court were the greatest!! Very friendly and helpful. Service was kinda slow due to few workers at each station.

I also posted a hotel review on the Disney Resorts board about our stay too if you are interested.

Hope this info helps.

 

[3forWDW]

I have a ?- not about food so much- but how is the pool situation at ASMO? Did you have to use the Mighty Ducks pool?

Hope my answer to the other post (see above post) answers/helps.

 

[3forWDW]

I can't wait for our trip.

Thanks. We did have a great time this year. Last year's trip was very emotional as we had just gone thru Hurricane Katrina and were evacuating. So this year made up for it!

Hope your trip goes well too!

 

[angel's momma]

Did CP or CM allow smoothies?

 

[3forWDW]

Did CP or CM allow smoothies?

We never specifically asked for smoothies but when the CM (waitresses)was giving the choice of drinks, they did not list smoothies.

The only other drinks I asked about was at CM. I asked if I ordered an "adult" drink did it have glow cubes in it (so I could give them to the kids and drink the drink myself) and the answer was no. I would have to pay $4.95 (not positive on that amount, but I think that was it ) for each cube, so we just had tea and sodas.

 

[angel's momma]

Thank you!

 

[dreamergirl78]

We were on Free Dining, so we didn't use the voucher. So I'm not alot of help there. Sorry. Food was good at Planet. Your regular TGIF, Applebee's kind of stuff. Restaurant has alot of neat memorabilia, but is rather dark and very noisy! Of course, with two boys the noise just goes along with them!!

Thanks for the info! I love looking around in PH's so this will be fun. If the food stinks we can easily grab something else somewhere else!
Thanks again.

 

[JoAnnPan]

Hi ~ how were the characters at 1900? I have an ADR there in December (going solo). Overall how was the 1900 experience?

thanks

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Could you tell me more about your beakfast at Donald's? I have an ADR here on our upcoming trip and haven't eaten there since 2002.

 

[ms.ojo]

Hi 3forWDW! Thanks for offering to answer questions. I'd love to hear about your meal at Concourse Steakhouse. We are planning to eat dinner there in a few wks.

Also, what sort of snacks do you have on the plan in the various parks?

Thanks!

 

[weeks4vols]

I didn't think Planet Hollywood was on the DDP. Has this changed?

 

[3forWDW]

Hi ~ how were the characters at 1900? I have an ADR there in December (going solo). Overall how was the 1900 experience?

thanks

This was actually one of our favorite character meals. We had 4 -- CM, CP, 1900, and Donald's Breakfastasarus. The characters were excellent. It was Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, and the Mad Hatter. All but Mary came around to each table (Pooh and Tigger several times. Had to wait on Alice and Mad Hatter to get there, took them longer at each table.) Mary Poppins sits on a bench outside the restaurant area. (She was so pretty!!!) There was no rushing as the characters came around. And the restaurant was not very crowded. They spent so much time with each table, is why it took so long for Alice to get there, but we didn't mind. Food was excellent. Best Buffet we had by far. and Staff was friendly/great. Had worried that my two active boys would be out of place in the fancier setting (well me and my husband too) but it wasn't like that at all. Fancy but everyone was real laid back and nice. Also, if you pin trade, we found some great cast member pins with the staff there!

 

[3forWDW]

Could you tell me more about your beakfast at Donald's? I have an ADR here on our upcoming trip and haven't eaten there since 2002.

This has become one of our favorite meals. We ate there in Sept 2005 and both boys and my husband asked to go back this year. Great characters and food is good. Seemed a little more crowded and rushed this year than last, but still was a great experience. Plus we like to get to AK and get in early to go eat, then when we finish eating the park is just opening and we are ready to go. Out of our character meals 1900 Park Fare and Donald's were our favorites, with the kids always loving dinner at Chef Mickey's!

 

[3forWDW]

Hi 3forWDW! Thanks for offering to answer questions. I'd love to hear about your meal at Concourse Steakhouse. We are planning to eat dinner there in a few wks.

Also, what sort of snacks do you have on the plan in the various parks?

Thanks!

Well this one could get me in hot water on the boards! My husband and I neither one really liked the Concourse. However, others diners there were mentioning that they had come back for a second meal during their stay, so maybe it was just us. We both had the Prime Rib. Very tender, cooked well, but just not alot of taste. (Maybe it's us being used to alot of spicy cajun cooking! ) Desserts were excellent. Service was fast but not very attentive. Kinda felt like they just wanted us to eat and leave. And I didn't realize that the restaurant itself would be so open to the noise from Chef Mickey's (not that it was bad noise, we ate there two nights later and loved it!) I think maybe I was just expecting a more quiet, adult meal. Don't let my comments on it discourage you, it was probably just my husband and me's weird dining preferences.

Snacks --- Much safer topic for me. We had some great ones. Of course had the sodas and water, son had a Kadoozie pop (a twisted popsicle thing), had pretzels. One of the better snacks I had was from MGM. It came from the candy shop located right as you turn to go toward Tower of Terror. It was a giant coconut haystack with chocolate on it. Plus they had all kinds of large cookies and huge handmade candy that all looked great. My son also had a frozen juice/icee thing from there. We also got cookies and chocolate covered Marshmallows (on a Disney Straw) from Goofy's Candy Store in DownTown Disney. Just keep in mind most snacks/candy on Disney property is covered as a snack if it cost $4.00 or less. Another great snack that I also posted on the Tips Board, was the dozen doughnuts from the Gift Shop at the Hotel. They cost $3.79 so they were allowed as 1 snack credit. Great for breakfast for the kids with some milk! Another one from the Gift Shop was a box of Minnie's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Whole box of cookies was 1 snack credit.

Hope this helps.