Just back...Restaurant and Dining Plan Reviews:

jennybobenny

banana fanna fo fenny
Joined
Aug 19, 1999
Just got back from 6 days in WDW. Rather than find the individual threads for each restaurant I thought I'd lump all my opinions into one post.

TABLE SERVICE

Whispering Canyon Cafe...I read posts here on the board about Bobby leaving and how management asked the waitstaff to tone things down. Well I'm here to tell you, things haven't changed - at least not that we noticed. We had a group of 13 broken down into 2 tables - one table of 8 (6 adults and 2 young adults) and a table of 5 (age range from 5 to 10yrs). Doug was our waiter and he was fantastic. All the old jokes are still there (extra large pitchers of iced tea, ketchup cattlecalls, quiet while so-and-so is on the phone, spongebob t-shirt, hokey pokey etc. etc.). Actually, compared with our last visit to WCC a few years ago, this time we were asked to stand up and recite things more often. Our neighboring waiter (wish I got his name) was hysterical (had the 5 kids go with him to sing to one of his tables), spoke to the kids *every* single time he walked by and had them all laughing in the aisles. All of us had a great time (and the pork chops were awesome!).

PS: We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and on several occasions could hear the laughter and antics coming from WCC as we passed thru the lobby. Didn't bother us a bit.

Crystal Palace Character Breakfast Buffet: Loved it. It's a classic and a never-miss for our family.

Ohana Character Breakfast: Our first time. Loved it.

Le Cellier: Our waiter was awesome. Food was fantastic. We had the little talk with our kids about "dining" vs. "eating" but I'm not sure it's the best restaurant choice for us (especially after what our kids got away with at Whispering Canyon!) On the other hand, my 12 year old daughter impressed the heck out of us by ordering (and eating) mussels and filet mignon.

1900 Park Faire Character Dinner Buffet: Our first time. No complaints. Prince Charming was hot (lol) and totally kept his composure when a bunch of teenage guys started razzing him a bit.

50's Prime Time Dinner: Another classic. Never realized how often my family puts their elbows on the table! The waitress told my daughter to ease up on the sprite or she'd need rubber sheets.

COUNTER / QUICK SERVICE

Roaring Forks (Wilderness Lodge Food Court): Awesome. I was so impressed with the food here I wished we could have skipped a few table service meals and eaten here instead. The Grilled Chicken Salad w/Apple Vinegarette Dressing was great. Hamburgers were great, individual pizzas were great. Several times we waited until we got back to the resort for lunch/dinner rather than eat at one of the parks specifically so we could eat at Roaring Forks. This was our first time having the luxury of a food court (we usually stay at Boardwalk Villas) and it is definately a selling point.

Cosmic Ray's: Not a big fan, but it was quick and convenient.

***********************************************

OVERALL DINING PLAN

We had 3 adults and 1 child. Our stay was 6 nights. Grand total for the dining plan was $750. Each night we tallied up how many TS, QS and Snacks we used and how much the meal would have cost had we not been on the dining plan. (In order to do this you'll need to write down the total amount on your receipt after signing the restaurant's receipt as the slip you keep has nothing but zeros for totals). At the end of the 7 days our receipts totalled $1030. So..it was definately worth it, although I must say we probably wouldn't have eaten at so many table service restaurants had we not been on the dining plan.
If I were to do it all over again I wouldn't shy away from the table service meals that require *2* table service credits (Hoop dee Doo, Cinderella's Castle, Yachtsman Steakhouse, etc.) just for the sake of not having to plan for a big meal every single day (life is rough, isn't it??). Also, I made the mistake of 'saving up' the snack credits for the first few days because I didn't want to run out. Unfortunately that left us with 2 days remaining and 13 snack credits to use. It ended up working out ok as we got some carrot sticks, grapes and fruit cups, along with a few bottles of water on our checkout day. Even though we had come out ahead money-wise I didn't want to leave Disney while we still had snack credits! (LOL)
 
great review. question for you, is there anywhere at BWV that has somewhat of a foodcourt???? We are going in Aug. and Im so afraid i wont like it compared to WL!
 
Crystal Palace Character Breakfast Buffet:
Le Cellier:
1900 Park Faire Character Dinner Buffet:
50's Prime Time Dinner:

Glad to hear such great reviews of the above restaurants. Have ADR's at all of these and am really looking forward to it.
 
Thanks for the reviews! So glad to hear you had a great time at WCC. That's the one dinner I booked just for DS5 so I'm glad to hear the fun is still on. I'm like you though. I'll be saving up DDP credits the first fews days and then looking for someone who needs a free meal the last day. Waste not, want not! :thumbsup2
 


Thanks especially for the review of WCC! That one is new to us this trip and I was getting concerned. :)
 


I'm so glad you liked Roaring Forks! I am going to be staying at WL for the first time in Dec., and it;s nice to know that there is reliable, quick place to eat at the resort.

Melissa
 
Thanks for the reviews.

could you tell me what you ordered at Cosmic Rays? We want to try the ribs and chicken.

I love roaring forks also. I would miss not having something like that at some of the other deluxes. That might be my only complaint about them.
 
Sorry for not responding sooner.

At Cosmic Ray's we ordered a chicken breast sandwich, turkey wrap and chicken fingers. I didn't like the turkey wrap because it had cheese in it. Since it was a wrap it was too messy and complicated to pick the cheese out so I traded my husband for his chicken sandwich, which was too thick and dry and bland. The chicken fingers and fries were fine, and enough for both kids (12 & 8) to split. Actually all of it was fine, it just didn't do it for me personally. The rest of my family ate like pigs. ;)

Like I said - I'm not a big Cosmic Ray's fan. I don't like having to wait in different lines because we all don't want to order the same thing. On the other hand, it was a humid 95 degrees outside and a cool 65 degrees inside so I wasn't complaining. Next time we'll just head on into Fantasyland to Pinnochio's. :sunny:
 
disneyobessed said:
great review. question for you, is there anywhere at BWV that has somewhat of a foodcourt???? We are going in Aug. and Im so afraid i wont like it compared to WL!
I'm not the OP, but we just got back last night from a 6-night stay there so I thought I'd answer your question. This is the ONLY thing I found to be lacking at the BW--not enough counter service restaurants. There's Spoodles for pizza, a hot dog cart and the Boardwalk Bakery has sandwiches, but really that's it. Pretty limiting. Having said that, however, there are plenty of table service restaurants to choose from and the sandwiches at the BB were excellent.
 
Thanks for the reviews!!

So glad to hear about Whispering Canyon, we are taking my dad there for the first time, I was hoping he would have to stand up and sing!!
 
Thanks for the reviews. We are eating at Le Cellier and I can't wait, it was nice to hear you loved it.
 
I was glad to see your review of WCC. We are trying it out for the first time and was hoping all the negative posts weren't the whole truth!
 
We stayed at WL from 7/23-7/29 and ate at Roarin' Forks many times. We had their sandwiches for lunch many times while the kids swam. There selections were fresh and delicious. I also loved the vegetarian vegetable soup. It was great to get red grapes or fresh fruit as a side. We kept these in the fridge and my son, 18 mo., had these with his breakfast on many mornings.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top