Just back! Some dining thoughts and experiences

[nkereina]

Just back from a great 6 night stay and wanted to share my dining experiences.

We used mobile ordering several times and it worked well every time. We had one instance where current timeslots were hard to find and that was around 12pm in a busy DHS. Book your timeslot early if the park is busy or if you like to eat during the typical meal times. We also found that we would select “I’m Here, Prepare My Order” as we were walking to the QS restaurant to save time waiting outside to get that alert.

We did find that a lot of menus were more limited, but were able to find something everywhere regardless. I struggled before we left with whether I should book more TS because of potentially limited QS options, but we found it would not have been necessary.

For all of our TS meals, we checked in early for almost all of them and were seated either on time or within 10 minutes of our ADR time. No major waits. All tables were socially distanced, which was honestly a nice change from being packed into TS meals typically.

Lastly, just an FYI that it would be difficult to travel without newer smart phones in the current environment. We had to use ours for checking into TS restaurants, mobile ordering QS, scanning QR codes to see any menu, and then of course to join boarding groups, wait times, check balances, etc. We relied on it a lot more than previous trips.

CBR:
We missed being able to walk into the resort food court and browse around. We thought the whole vibe of having drinks served to you and having limited indoor seating made for a weird atmosphere. We only ate at our resort food court twice during our 7 day trip, and we are typically people that would go there every morning. On our arrival day, we had a quick lunch of a Cuban and chicken strips – it was good, but options were so limited, it wasn’t necessarily what I wanted. On our departure day, we had breakfast of Mickey Waffles and the bounty platter. We were in Jamaica 42, close to the Skyliner, so we actually grabbed breakfast at the Joffrey’s stand there twice. Its just donuts and pastries, but they had an excelled cold brew iced coffee that we enjoyed.

Beach Club:
Beaches & Cream – Had a late dinner at Beaches & Cream one evening. The Skyliner was closed by the time we were done, so we had to Uber back which was fine. Love the new space and had great service. The burger was not as good as I remember, but the No Way Jose sundae was! It’s always a must do for us here. Also, we tried several times before our trip and during our trip to adjust our ADR time here but had no luck finding other availability. We checked in early when we arrived, but were still seated close to our original ADR time. Seems like its still a popular place, even though they have more seating now.

Epcot:
Regal Eagle – This was our first experience here and we were very pleasantly surprised. The indoor seating area was much larger than I anticipated. I had the pork with fries and DH had the brisket sandwich with beans, and we split a mac & cheese. Food was very good we thought. Nice option with ample seating in the World Showcase.

Teppan Edo – This was our first time here, so I can’t speak to whether the menu was limited or whether the “show” by the cook was different. The show is not as long or frankly as fun as the local hibachi places in my area. They also don’t have fried rice. But all of that aside, the food and service was good and it was something unique and different from the typical Disney foods we eat. DH and I both had the chicken and shrimp combo, and while it was good, we thought the potions were small, and we did not care for the seaweed salad they gave us at the beginning. They had a plastic barrier on the table separating us from the other party at our table, and there were also two seats in between us as well. The plastic barrier can be moved depending on party sizes. We were seated on the end of the table, and they did not use the hibachi table directly behind us.

DHS:
PizzeRizzo – This was the only QS option available around 12pm when we were hungry. The other QS options had windows opening around 12:30-12:40, but we didn’t want to wait. We ate at PitzzeRizzo last trip and its always just OK. I think they may have removed a couple side choices – I swear they used to have breadsticks? They did have ample indoor and outdoor seating.

Backlot Express – Surprisingly had never eaten here before. I had chicken strips and DH had the Cuban I believe. They were both good for theme park QS. Indoor seating during lunch was a little harder to come by than other QS experiences. Seemed to be less busy here than ABC Commissary.

MK:
Liberty Tree Tavern – Had lunch here, which is a must do for us at MK. Lunch now is just the Thanksgiving feast which is all you can eat. They used to offer other menu options at lunch, but not anymore. Not sure if that change was made pre-Covid or if it’s a result of Covid, but something to consider if people in your group don’t like that food. We thought it was good, but the food was luke warm and took a while for the server to bring it out to us. No good explanation for that since I’m sure its all sitting in large pans in the kitchen waiting to be dished out.

AK:
Yak & Yeti – DH had the honey chicken and I had the chicken lo mein, both were great! The restaurant also had tons of specials in addition to menu options. I don’t believe the menu here was limited at all. They were not taking walk ups so the Landry’s account for priority seating would come in handy here if you are not able to get an ADR.

Disney Springs:
Chicken Guy – DH had the chicken sandwich and I had chicken fingers with several sauces. All of it was good, but nothing to write home about. Seating was primarily outdoors and seemed to be expanded due to distancing. The line to order looked long when we arrived, but it moved quick. No mobile ordering. We chose Chicken Guy by process of elimination – the line at Polite Pig was very long, we wanted something other than a burger so that ruled out D-Luxe, and we have a Blaze pizza at home so we don’t like doing that at Disney Springs.

City Works – First time eating here. Reminded us of typical sports bars back home. Food was standard bar food with a twist. I had the Nashville hot chicken sandwich which was SPICY and DH had the scorpion burger, and ironically, my sandwich was spicier than his. Food and service were both fine, but the atmosphere inside was meh. Perhaps its better outside, but it was too hot for us to eat outside. We’d return, but it would not be a must do for us.

Wolfgang Puck – Chose this on a whim when we had an open evening and decided to go to Disney Springs. I booked it through Open Table last minute and they had all timeslots available. We were missing Wolfgang Puck Express as a QS option, so we both got margherita pizzas here and they were very good! Similar to the ones we used to get at WPE. More expensive, of course. We were seated in the front room near the pizza oven, so we had a great people watching view. We were pleasantly surprised by it here, would return again.

The Boathouse – Just had drinks here, which were good. Our first time inside the restaurant. After seeing the atmosphere and browsing the menu, I think we’d try a meal here next time. They have two bars and neither were busy even though Disney Springs was packed, so I would suggest this as a good stop for drinks.

Splitsville – Just had drinks at the outside bar here, and enjoyed live music from some duo that played some great songs. Mostly classic rock, which was our speed. The bartender here was also great, and the seating area outside was not crowded at all. Splitsville was our last stop after striking out looking for open bar seats at Homecomin’, Raglan Road, and Wine Bar George. Glad it worked out the way it did, because our night at Splitsville is one of my favorites from the trip. As an FYI, we were told the bar seats at Homecomin’ are seated by the hostess and considered part of their table seating, so its not first come first served. I’m guessing this is a Covid-related change. At Raglan Road, they keep a separate wait list for bar seating.

Ghiradelli – The line here was quite long, but it went quick and they got the sundaes out at light speed. DH had a mint chocolate shake, I had the salted caramel sundae. Both were good, but there is a lack of seating here now that everything is to go. We had to walk down towards the Marketplace area more and found an open bench. It would not be conducive to a family with kids, unless you manage to snag one of the very few tables outside Ghiradelli.

I think that covers all the places we ate at. We also went to City Walk at Universal one evening and ate dinner at Cowfish. They stuck us up on the third floor which lacked atmosphere and was on the quiet side, and the food was just OK for me (I had a burger and DH had sushi). We also got donuts from Voodoo which are always great. Overall, we were pleased with the food options and didn’t really have to struggle to find something at any point. Happy to answer any questions!

 

[figmentfinesse]

Thank you so much for the in depth review, they are so helpful. I stayed CBR in August and actually preferred walking over for Riviera for the QS. Sounds like a (mostly) good dining experience for your trip!!

 

[disneyseniors]

Just back from a great 6 night stay and wanted to share my dining experiences.

We used mobile ordering several times and it worked well every time. We had one instance where current timeslots were hard to find and that was around 12pm in a busy DHS. Book your timeslot early if the park is busy or if you like to eat during the typical meal times. We also found that we would select “I’m Here, Prepare My Order” as we were walking to the QS restaurant to save time waiting outside to get that alert.

We did find that a lot of menus were more limited, but were able to find something everywhere regardless. I struggled before we left with whether I should book more TS because of potentially limited QS options, but we found it would not have been necessary.

For all of our TS meals, we checked in early for almost all of them and were seated either on time or within 10 minutes of our ADR time. No major waits. All tables were socially distanced, which was honestly a nice change from being packed into TS meals typically.

Lastly, just an FYI that it would be difficult to travel without newer smart phones in the current environment. We had to use ours for checking into TS restaurants, mobile ordering QS, scanning QR codes to see any menu, and then of course to join boarding groups, wait times, check balances, etc. We relied on it a lot more than previous trips.

CBR:
We missed being able to walk into the resort food court and browse around. We thought the whole vibe of having drinks served to you and having limited indoor seating made for a weird atmosphere. We only ate at our resort food court twice during our 7 day trip, and we are typically people that would go there every morning. On our arrival day, we had a quick lunch of a Cuban and chicken strips – it was good, but options were so limited, it wasn’t necessarily what I wanted. On our departure day, we had breakfast of Mickey Waffles and the bounty platter. We were in Jamaica 42, close to the Skyliner, so we actually grabbed breakfast at the Joffrey’s stand there twice. Its just donuts and pastries, but they had an excelled cold brew iced coffee that we enjoyed.

Beach Club:
Beaches & Cream – Had a late dinner at Beaches & Cream one evening. The Skyliner was closed by the time we were done, so we had to Uber back which was fine. Love the new space and had great service. The burger was not as good as I remember, but the No Way Jose sundae was! It’s always a must do for us here. Also, we tried several times before our trip and during our trip to adjust our ADR time here but had no luck finding other availability. We checked in early when we arrived, but were still seated close to our original ADR time. Seems like its still a popular place, even though they have more seating now.

Epcot:
Regal Eagle – This was our first experience here and we were very pleasantly surprised. The indoor seating area was much larger than I anticipated. I had the pork with fries and DH had the brisket sandwich with beans, and we split a mac & cheese. Food was very good we thought. Nice option with ample seating in the World Showcase.

Teppan Edo – This was our first time here, so I can’t speak to whether the menu was limited or whether the “show” by the cook was different. The show is not as long or frankly as fun as the local hibachi places in my area. They also don’t have fried rice. But all of that aside, the food and service was good and it was something unique and different from the typical Disney foods we eat. DH and I both had the chicken and shrimp combo, and while it was good, we thought the potions were small, and we did not care for the seaweed salad they gave us at the beginning. They had a plastic barrier on the table separating us from the other party at our table, and there were also two seats in between us as well. The plastic barrier can be moved depending on party sizes. We were seated on the end of the table, and they did not use the hibachi table directly behind us.

DHS:
PizzeRizzo – This was the only QS option available around 12pm when we were hungry. The other QS options had windows opening around 12:30-12:40, but we didn’t want to wait. We ate at PitzzeRizzo last trip and its always just OK. I think they may have removed a couple side choices – I swear they used to have breadsticks? They did have ample indoor and outdoor seating.

Backlot Express – Surprisingly had never eaten here before. I had chicken strips and DH had the Cuban I believe. They were both good for theme park QS. Indoor seating during lunch was a little harder to come by than other QS experiences. Seemed to be less busy here than ABC Commissary.

MK:
Liberty Tree Tavern – Had lunch here, which is a must do for us at MK. Lunch now is just the Thanksgiving feast which is all you can eat. They used to offer other menu options at lunch, but not anymore. Not sure if that change was made pre-Covid or if it’s a result of Covid, but something to consider if people in your group don’t like that food. We thought it was good, but the food was luke warm and took a while for the server to bring it out to us. No good explanation for that since I’m sure its all sitting in large pans in the kitchen waiting to be dished out.

AK:
Yak & Yeti – DH had the honey chicken and I had the chicken lo mein, both were great! The restaurant also had tons of specials in addition to menu options. I don’t believe the menu here was limited at all. They were not taking walk ups so the Landry’s account for priority seating would come in handy here if you are not able to get an ADR.

Disney Springs:
Chicken Guy – DH had the chicken sandwich and I had chicken fingers with several sauces. All of it was good, but nothing to write home about. Seating was primarily outdoors and seemed to be expanded due to distancing. The line to order looked long when we arrived, but it moved quick. No mobile ordering. We chose Chicken Guy by process of elimination – the line at Polite Pig was very long, we wanted something other than a burger so that ruled out D-Luxe, and we have a Blaze pizza at home so we don’t like doing that at Disney Springs.

City Works – First time eating here. Reminded us of typical sports bars back home. Food was standard bar food with a twist. I had the Nashville hot chicken sandwich which was SPICY and DH had the scorpion burger, and ironically, my sandwich was spicier than his. Food and service were both fine, but the atmosphere inside was meh. Perhaps its better outside, but it was too hot for us to eat outside. We’d return, but it would not be a must do for us.

Wolfgang Puck – Chose this on a whim when we had an open evening and decided to go to Disney Springs. I booked it through Open Table last minute and they had all timeslots available. We were missing Wolfgang Puck Express as a QS option, so we both got margherita pizzas here and they were very good! Similar to the ones we used to get at WPE. More expensive, of course. We were seated in the front room near the pizza oven, so we had a great people watching view. We were pleasantly surprised by it here, would return again.

The Boathouse – Just had drinks here, which were good. Our first time inside the restaurant. After seeing the atmosphere and browsing the menu, I think we’d try a meal here next time. They have two bars and neither were busy even though Disney Springs was packed, so I would suggest this as a good stop for drinks.

Splitsville – Just had drinks at the outside bar here, and enjoyed live music from some duo that played some great songs. Mostly classic rock, which was our speed. The bartender here was also great, and the seating area outside was not crowded at all. Splitsville was our last stop after striking out looking for open bar seats at Homecomin’, Raglan Road, and Wine Bar George. Glad it worked out the way it did, because our night at Splitsville is one of my favorites from the trip. As an FYI, we were told the bar seats at Homecomin’ are seated by the hostess and considered part of their table seating, so its not first come first served. I’m guessing this is a Covid-related change. At Raglan Road, they keep a separate wait list for bar seating.

Ghiradelli – The line here was quite long, but it went quick and they got the sundaes out at light speed. DH had a mint chocolate shake, I had the salted caramel sundae. Both were good, but there is a lack of seating here now that everything is to go. We had to walk down towards the Marketplace area more and found an open bench. It would not be conducive to a family with kids, unless you manage to snag one of the very few tables outside Ghiradelli.

I think that covers all the places we ate at. We also went to City Walk at Universal one evening and ate dinner at Cowfish. They stuck us up on the third floor which lacked atmosphere and was on the quiet side, and the food was just OK for me (I had a burger and DH had sushi). We also got donuts from Voodoo which are always great. Overall, we were pleased with the food options and didn’t really have to struggle to find something at any point. Happy to answer any questions!

Sounds like a great trip
I have an old flip phone and am going to get a newer smart phone. BUT I know nothing about them.
When you said the newer phones work best, what did you mean by that? Just anything that will give me an idea what to get. I can't afford the new Iphone 12, so that's out. Thanks so much for your informative trip report.

 

[nkereina]

Sounds like a great trip
I have an old flip phone and am going to get a newer smart phone. BUT I know nothing about them.
When you said the newer phones work best, what did you mean by that? Just anything that will give me an idea what to get. I can't afford the new Iphone 12, so that's out. Thanks so much for your informative trip report.

My MIL has an iPhone 5 I believe, and the MDE app no longer downloads onto the phone because the software is so outdated. My parents have an iPhone 7 and the app still works there. If you're getting an iPhone, I would say 7 or newer should work fine. Again, there are workarounds if the app is not accessible to you, but it would be the most efficient to use the app if you can. Have a good trip!

 

[Erica Ladd]

Thanks for the report! DH and I have a reservation at Homecoming but it’s on the early side. We’d prefer to sit at the bar - do you think we could request it when checking in?

 

[justhat]

Sounds like a great trip
I have an old flip phone and am going to get a newer smart phone. BUT I know nothing about them.
When you said the newer phones work best, what did you mean by that? Just anything that will give me an idea what to get. I can't afford the new Iphone 12, so that's out. Thanks so much for your informative trip report.

You need the My Disney Experience app to do almost anything. My kids have the iphone 8 and that worked fine. Basically just need to be able to scan QR codes, use the app, etc.

 

[nkereina]

Thanks for the report! DH and I have a reservation at Homecoming but it’s on the early side. We’d prefer to sit at the bar - do you think we could request it when checking in?

I think you could! The seating is limited since its spaced out, but if its just you two and you're willing to wait, they may be accommodating.

 

[LiteBrite]

Sounds like a great trip
I have an old flip phone and am going to get a newer smart phone. BUT I know nothing about them.
When you said the newer phones work best, what did you mean by that? Just anything that will give me an idea what to get. I can't afford the new Iphone 12, so that's out. Thanks so much for your informative trip report.

There are lots of cheaper smart phones on the market these days. I have a Motorola phone that I paid less than $300 for, and it works great, including the features you'll need at WDW. You can shop for a phone on Amazon, or on the website of the phone's maker, or just buy it from whoever you have your service through.

 

[lmdean]

I have an old flip phone and am going to get a newer smart phone. BUT I know nothing about them.
When you said the newer phones work best, what did you mean by that? Just anything that will give me an idea what to get.

Check with your carrier, you may be due for a free upgrade. There are TONS of good Android phones under $200 that will work great. Our family uses Motorola phones and many are very very affordable and will work great with the Disney app. If your carrier doesn't have any good offerings, look at Amazon. The basic differences from a flip phone will be the ability to use apps and there are a TON of built in features on almost all smartphones that you will find useful. Unless your family is already invested in Apple products, an Android phone might be the cheapest and best option.

 

[ScubaCat]

On our departure day, we had breakfast of Mickey Waffles and the bounty platter.

How were the waffles? I've yet to have a good one since the reopening..

 

[disneyseniors]

Thank you, Imdean Lite Brite, and Just that:

Your suggestions help alot. I don't have a carrier. I just buy minutes cards when I need them. It is a really old flip phone. I didn't know Lite Brite, about the Motorola brand. I will check it out. Just that: the Iphone 8 sounds expensive. Is it? To me that means over 500.00. Imdean, I will also check on Android. All of this is foreign to me. My grandkids have phones, but I can't afford the newer Iphones like them.

 

[disneyseniors]

My MIL has an iPhone 5 I believe, and the MDE app no longer downloads onto the phone because the software is so outdated. My parents have an iPhone 7 and the app still works there. If you're getting an iPhone, I would say 7 or newer should work fine. Again, there are workarounds if the app is not accessible to you, but it would be the most efficient to use the app if you can. Have a good trip!

Nkereina: Thanks for the information about the iphones. If I go that way, I willl definitely do an 8 or above.. All depends on the price. That's good to know about the iphone 5.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Just back from a great 6 night stay and wanted to share my dining experiences.

We used mobile ordering several times and it worked well every time. We had one instance where current timeslots were hard to find and that was around 12pm in a busy DHS. Book your timeslot early if the park is busy or if you like to eat during the typical meal times. We also found that we would select “I’m Here, Prepare My Order” as we were walking to the QS restaurant to save time waiting outside to get that alert.

We did find that a lot of menus were more limited, but were able to find something everywhere regardless. I struggled before we left with whether I should book more TS because of potentially limited QS options, but we found it would not have been necessary.

For all of our TS meals, we checked in early for almost all of them and were seated either on time or within 10 minutes of our ADR time. No major waits. All tables were socially distanced, which was honestly a nice change from being packed into TS meals typically.

Lastly, just an FYI that it would be difficult to travel without newer smart phones in the current environment. We had to use ours for checking into TS restaurants, mobile ordering QS, scanning QR codes to see any menu, and then of course to join boarding groups, wait times, check balances, etc. We relied on it a lot more than previous trips.

CBR:
We missed being able to walk into the resort food court and browse around. We thought the whole vibe of having drinks served to you and having limited indoor seating made for a weird atmosphere. We only ate at our resort food court twice during our 7 day trip, and we are typically people that would go there every morning. On our arrival day, we had a quick lunch of a Cuban and chicken strips – it was good, but options were so limited, it wasn’t necessarily what I wanted. On our departure day, we had breakfast of Mickey Waffles and the bounty platter. We were in Jamaica 42, close to the Skyliner, so we actually grabbed breakfast at the Joffrey’s stand there twice. Its just donuts and pastries, but they had an excelled cold brew iced coffee that we enjoyed.

Beach Club:
Beaches & Cream – Had a late dinner at Beaches & Cream one evening. The Skyliner was closed by the time we were done, so we had to Uber back which was fine. Love the new space and had great service. The burger was not as good as I remember, but the No Way Jose sundae was! It’s always a must do for us here. Also, we tried several times before our trip and during our trip to adjust our ADR time here but had no luck finding other availability. We checked in early when we arrived, but were still seated close to our original ADR time. Seems like its still a popular place, even though they have more seating now.

Epcot:
Regal Eagle – This was our first experience here and we were very pleasantly surprised. The indoor seating area was much larger than I anticipated. I had the pork with fries and DH had the brisket sandwich with beans, and we split a mac & cheese. Food was very good we thought. Nice option with ample seating in the World Showcase.

Teppan Edo – This was our first time here, so I can’t speak to whether the menu was limited or whether the “show” by the cook was different. The show is not as long or frankly as fun as the local hibachi places in my area. They also don’t have fried rice. But all of that aside, the food and service was good and it was something unique and different from the typical Disney foods we eat. DH and I both had the chicken and shrimp combo, and while it was good, we thought the potions were small, and we did not care for the seaweed salad they gave us at the beginning. They had a plastic barrier on the table separating us from the other party at our table, and there were also two seats in between us as well. The plastic barrier can be moved depending on party sizes. We were seated on the end of the table, and they did not use the hibachi table directly behind us.

DHS:
PizzeRizzo – This was the only QS option available around 12pm when we were hungry. The other QS options had windows opening around 12:30-12:40, but we didn’t want to wait. We ate at PitzzeRizzo last trip and its always just OK. I think they may have removed a couple side choices – I swear they used to have breadsticks? They did have ample indoor and outdoor seating.

Backlot Express – Surprisingly had never eaten here before. I had chicken strips and DH had the Cuban I believe. They were both good for theme park QS. Indoor seating during lunch was a little harder to come by than other QS experiences. Seemed to be less busy here than ABC Commissary.

MK:
Liberty Tree Tavern – Had lunch here, which is a must do for us at MK. Lunch now is just the Thanksgiving feast which is all you can eat. They used to offer other menu options at lunch, but not anymore. Not sure if that change was made pre-Covid or if it’s a result of Covid, but something to consider if people in your group don’t like that food. We thought it was good, but the food was luke warm and took a while for the server to bring it out to us. No good explanation for that since I’m sure its all sitting in large pans in the kitchen waiting to be dished out.

AK:
Yak & Yeti – DH had the honey chicken and I had the chicken lo mein, both were great! The restaurant also had tons of specials in addition to menu options. I don’t believe the menu here was limited at all. They were not taking walk ups so the Landry’s account for priority seating would come in handy here if you are not able to get an ADR.

Disney Springs:
Chicken Guy – DH had the chicken sandwich and I had chicken fingers with several sauces. All of it was good, but nothing to write home about. Seating was primarily outdoors and seemed to be expanded due to distancing. The line to order looked long when we arrived, but it moved quick. No mobile ordering. We chose Chicken Guy by process of elimination – the line at Polite Pig was very long, we wanted something other than a burger so that ruled out D-Luxe, and we have a Blaze pizza at home so we don’t like doing that at Disney Springs.

City Works – First time eating here. Reminded us of typical sports bars back home. Food was standard bar food with a twist. I had the Nashville hot chicken sandwich which was SPICY and DH had the scorpion burger, and ironically, my sandwich was spicier than his. Food and service were both fine, but the atmosphere inside was meh. Perhaps its better outside, but it was too hot for us to eat outside. We’d return, but it would not be a must do for us.

Wolfgang Puck – Chose this on a whim when we had an open evening and decided to go to Disney Springs. I booked it through Open Table last minute and they had all timeslots available. We were missing Wolfgang Puck Express as a QS option, so we both got margherita pizzas here and they were very good! Similar to the ones we used to get at WPE. More expensive, of course. We were seated in the front room near the pizza oven, so we had a great people watching view. We were pleasantly surprised by it here, would return again.

The Boathouse – Just had drinks here, which were good. Our first time inside the restaurant. After seeing the atmosphere and browsing the menu, I think we’d try a meal here next time. They have two bars and neither were busy even though Disney Springs was packed, so I would suggest this as a good stop for drinks.

Splitsville – Just had drinks at the outside bar here, and enjoyed live music from some duo that played some great songs. Mostly classic rock, which was our speed. The bartender here was also great, and the seating area outside was not crowded at all. Splitsville was our last stop after striking out looking for open bar seats at Homecomin’, Raglan Road, and Wine Bar George. Glad it worked out the way it did, because our night at Splitsville is one of my favorites from the trip. As an FYI, we were told the bar seats at Homecomin’ are seated by the hostess and considered part of their table seating, so its not first come first served. I’m guessing this is a Covid-related change. At Raglan Road, they keep a separate wait list for bar seating.

Ghiradelli – The line here was quite long, but it went quick and they got the sundaes out at light speed. DH had a mint chocolate shake, I had the salted caramel sundae. Both were good, but there is a lack of seating here now that everything is to go. We had to walk down towards the Marketplace area more and found an open bench. It would not be conducive to a family with kids, unless you manage to snag one of the very few tables outside Ghiradelli.

I think that covers all the places we ate at. We also went to City Walk at Universal one evening and ate dinner at Cowfish. They stuck us up on the third floor which lacked atmosphere and was on the quiet side, and the food was just OK for me (I had a burger and DH had sushi). We also got donuts from Voodoo which are always great. Overall, we were pleased with the food options and didn’t really have to struggle to find something at any point. Happy to answer any questions!

Thanks for the thorough review. We ate at some of the same locales and had similar experiences. We stayed at CBR on our last trip this last August and the Joffreys stand wasn’t open yet. Wish it was. Ugh. I thought the same thing about the food court. Options were very very limited. We ate dinner there twice and we’d mobile order on our bus ride back from the parks and it was disappointing. The first night that we ordered they didn’t even have desserts. I asked a cm when we arrived and they only had Mickey bars but they didn’t show up in the app. The second time they added the Mickey cupcakes but that was rare or so the cm said. Outside of the food court and big Rona messing up the options, we didn’t have that great of a stay at CBR and wouldn’t go back so I’m less inclined to really worry about future food court issues.

We did also venture over to the riviera and ate at primo piatto and enjoyed that meal. Food was good, service was hit or miss but I know it’s faiely new so they got a hall pass.

 

[Disnsyncey]

Did anybody else get the Motorola ads after reading this thread? Hahaha

 

[peabody58]

DW and I just back from WDW. TS (w/TIW) is part of the magic for us and at 60+, we really enjoy the meals as much as headliner rides. We had a great time and enjoyed all of our meals and service (B&C [2 times), R&C, A&C, Prime Time, Plaza). Used Mobile Ordering once at BCV Marketplace. We didn''t even need to call our kids to figure out how to work the app. Overall the dining at WDW has been excellent even with the limited menu and Covid restrictions. I even like the 60 day reservation window over the previous 180 days. Seems less stressful.

 

[DLo]

Thanks for taking the time to review. I am eating at Beaches and Cream , LTT , maybe City Works next month .

 

[nkereina]

How were the waffles? I've yet to have a good one since the reopening..

They were decent... pretty much as I remembered! I am guessing they make them in batches and they sit under heat lamps until someone orders them, but I may have gotten lucky with fresh ones.

Thanks for the thorough review. We ate at some of the same locales and had similar experiences. We stayed at CBR on our last trip this last August and the Joffreys stand wasn’t open yet. Wish it was. Ugh. I thought the same thing about the food court. Options were very very limited. We ate dinner there twice and we’d mobile order on our bus ride back from the parks and it was disappointing. The first night that we ordered they didn’t even have desserts. I asked a cm when we arrived and they only had Mickey bars but they didn’t show up in the app. The second time they added the Mickey cupcakes but that was rare or so the cm said. Outside of the food court and big Rona messing up the options, we didn’t have that great of a stay at CBR and wouldn’t go back so I’m less inclined to really worry about future food court issues.

We did also venture over to the riviera and ate at primo piatto and enjoyed that meal. Food was good, service was hit or miss but I know it’s faiely new so they got a hall pass.

We missed the pastry case! One of my favorite things to do is see what's in there and pick out something that looks good. They had a chocolate chip cookie on mobile order one day which I got. It was surprisingly good, but nothing special or unique like we'd see in the past. At breakfast, I got a cinnamon roll which was also good but again, not many other options. I was pleasantly surprised to find that both pastries were fresh, so maybe that's one of the benefits of the current protocol.

Out of curiosity, what happened with your stay at CBR if you don't mind sharing? We didn't love the resort when we stayed there a few years back, but had a much better experience this time around.

Did anybody else get the Motorola ads after reading this thread? Hahaha

LOL! My apologies!

 

[Aela]

Out of curiosity, what happened with your stay at CBR if you don't mind sharing? We didn't love the resort when we stayed there a few years back, but had a much better experience this time around.

Curious too. We’re staying there over the holidays instead of POP and haven’t stayed there before.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

They were decent... pretty much as I remembered! I am guessing they make them in batches and they sit under heat lamps until someone orders them, but I may have gotten lucky with fresh ones.


We missed the pastry case! One of my favorite things to do is see what's in there and pick out something that looks good. They had a chocolate chip cookie on mobile order one day which I got. It was surprisingly good, but nothing special or unique like we'd see in the past. At breakfast, I got a cinnamon roll which was also good but again, not many other options. I was pleasantly surprised to find that both pastries were fresh, so maybe that's one of the benefits of the current protocol.

Out of curiosity, what happened with your stay at CBR if you don't mind sharing? We didn't love the resort when we stayed there a few years back, but had a much better experience this time around.


LOL! My apologies!

Wow long story on our CBR stay. We are really big Disney fans with me, mom and wife, being the ring leader. I grew up in Florida and Disney is my home so I often have a tendency to sometimes not always see the negatives when at WDW. There was no missing the negatives at CBR this particular trip. Our overall trip was amazing, we had a great time at the parks and really loved the low crowds.

We stayed at CBR 6 nights in August. We chose CBR for the skyliner and we’d never stayed there before. Visited it but never stayed. I’d say some of our issues were Rona related and in normal times might be a non-issue but I’d say that some issues were definitely not corona related and were actually just poor management and a lack of quality customer service.

We went to Epcot on our arrival day and waited until after we were assigned a room to check in. When we finally checked into our room, Jamaica building 45, our room smelled DISGUSTING! My husband realized likely due to showers and sinks not having any water go down them for the months the resort was closed, it was probably sewer gases. He ran all the faucets and then promptly closed all drains and we left to head back to Epcot and figured we’d deal with the smell later. To get ahead of asking for a room switch, we chatted with Disney to avoid going to the front desk. It quickly became clear that chatting was futile and we needed to call/visit the front desk. Finally called the front desk and they sent out a maintenance engineer that same night. It took over an hour but he arrived. He was awesome and as soon as he walked in, he said y’all need to change rooms ASAP. He said I’ll call my boss and get this to happen. As great as he was, whoever at CBR that heads this up, was awful. It took them until the next day to get us changed. I’d be here until tomorrow writing what transpired that night but we finally got moved. Completely awful customer service that I attribute to the GM at CBR. So of course, we grabbed our stuff and moved. Next room is smell free so we’re happy.

That being said, the rest of our CBR stay was pretty disappointing. The bus service was bad, I mean like people called Ubers to pick them up at the depot bad because buses were so infrequently arriving. Our friends missed two ADRs because buses never arrived in time, they were at the depot almost 1.5 hours before their dining reservations. That’s bad and while yes, buses are limited in capacity, if the resort is busy- send more buses! The limited capacity makes zero difference if a bus arrives only once every hour.

Also, for whatever reason, there was a ton of misinformation provided by CBR staff around the bus operation when the skyliner went down for inclement weather. I’m not sure why CBR staff didn’t provide accurate info on how Disney transport actually works. I think it’s totally normal to have a few times when the bus is running slow especially over a 7 day stay, but this was almost every single time. Not at all CBRs fault that buses ran slow, but it is their fault that they provided guests false information on how buses operate when the skyliner goes down. After several visits to the front desk and providing the manager with the names of Disney transport CMs we spoke to on how the buses operate when the skyliner goes down, we were given a resort credit and not charged for parking. Turns out I asked 4 different CBR cast members about the buses regarding the skyliner inclement weather policy and internal bus operation and got 4 different answers. Not a big deal if the resort was maybe a third the size it is, but when you walk a half of a mile extra to catch the bus and it never comes, that’s just poor customer service.

The manager at CBR offered no apologies. No apologies for our disgusting, sewer gas smelling room and lack of urgency to move us and none for the bus confusion. In fact he was very defensive. Nothing magical. I didn’t ask for any credits, he just said “oh I’ll make you happy and you can have a credit”. It quickly became clear to me that the CBR CMs were being beaten up on the daily by guests. I felt bad for them and actually found myself apologizing to him. I clearly was delusional at this point, maybe it was the sewer gases.

Outside of a few CM in the food court that were very sweet and helpful, most were downright cranky which is not the norm.

We had food court issues, couldn’t get our orders right and long wait times. Nothing earth shattering but just little things that add up.

My husband and I concluded that CBR wasn’t quite ready to be open and the management didn’t know how to handle guest relations. Maybe it was just our week and some bad luck. CBR was not full to the max with guests but it definitely wasn’t empty. You’d never think we were in Rona times based on walks around CBR.

We also realized that how the buses run during skyliner outages pre covid is not how the buses were running then. I’m not sure even the bus drivers knew what the policies were in July and August.

In the grand scheme of our trip, we really didn’t care that stuff took longer. We were never rushed to get anywhere and more annoyed at the poor customer service we experienced. As far as the resort itself, we didn’t find it to be suited to our taste with the theming and location. Just our personal preference. I think it’s classification as a moderate stands because of dining options, the pool and room size but it’s a value resort IMO as large as it is and all the internal bus stops it has. The rooms are devoid of Disney theming and the aesthetics are dramatically different from the nice new lobby. It’s like your room is part of Motel 6 but the lobby belongs at the Hilton.

All that long winded response to basically say that CBR isn’t for us and we are definitely not staying there again. And if you read all this and think I’m crazy, that”s ok. I would probably think that too. We’ve stayed at WDW tons and have always had wonderful resort experiences.

 

[nkereina]

Wow long story on our CBR stay. We are really big Disney fans with me, mom and wife, being the ring leader. I grew up in Florida and Disney is my home so I often have a tendency to sometimes not always see the negatives when at WDW. There was no missing the negatives at CBR this particular trip. Our overall trip was amazing, we had a great time at the parks and really loved the low crowds.

We stayed at CBR 6 nights in August. We chose CBR for the skyliner and we’d never stayed there before. Visited it but never stayed. I’d say some of our issues were Rona related and in normal times might be a non-issue but I’d say that some issues were definitely not corona related and were actually just poor management and a lack of quality customer service.

We went to Epcot on our arrival day and waited until after we were assigned a room to check in. When we finally checked into our room, Jamaica building 45, our room smelled DISGUSTING! My husband realized likely due to showers and sinks not having any water go down them for the months the resort was closed, it was probably sewer gases. He ran all the faucets and then promptly closed all drains and we left to head back to Epcot and figured we’d deal with the smell later. To get ahead of asking for a room switch, we chatted with Disney to avoid going to the front desk. It quickly became clear that chatting was futile and we needed to call/visit the front desk. Finally called the front desk and they sent out a maintenance engineer that same night. It took over an hour but he arrived. He was awesome and as soon as he walked in, he said y’all need to change rooms ASAP. He said I’ll call my boss and get this to happen. As great as he was, whoever at CBR that heads this up, was awful. It took them until the next day to get us changed. I’d be here until tomorrow writing what transpired that night but we finally got moved. Completely awful customer service that I attribute to the GM at CBR. So of course, we grabbed our stuff and moved. Next room is smell free so we’re happy.

That being said, the rest of our CBR stay was pretty disappointing. The bus service was bad, I mean like people called Ubers to pick them up at the depot bad because buses were so infrequently arriving. Our friends missed two ADRs because buses never arrived in time, they were at the depot almost 1.5 hours before their dining reservations. That’s bad and while yes, buses are limited in capacity, if the resort is busy- send more buses! The limited capacity makes zero difference if a bus arrives only once every hour.

Also, for whatever reason, there was a ton of misinformation provided by CBR staff around the bus operation when the skyliner went down for inclement weather. I’m not sure why CBR staff didn’t provide accurate info on how Disney transport actually works. I think it’s totally normal to have a few times when the bus is running slow especially over a 7 day stay, but this was almost every single time. Not at all CBRs fault that buses ran slow, but it is their fault that they provided guests false information on how buses operate when the skyliner goes down. After several visits to the front desk and providing the manager with the names of Disney transport CMs we spoke to on how the buses operate when the skyliner goes down, we were given a resort credit and not charged for parking. Turns out I asked 4 different CBR cast members about the buses regarding the skyliner inclement weather policy and internal bus operation and got 4 different answers. Not a big deal if the resort was maybe a third the size it is, but when you walk a half of a mile extra to catch the bus and it never comes, that’s just poor customer service.

The manager at CBR offered no apologies. No apologies for our disgusting, sewer gas smelling room and lack of urgency to move us and none for the bus confusion. In fact he was very defensive. Nothing magical. I didn’t ask for any credits, he just said “oh I’ll make you happy and you can have a credit”. It quickly became clear to me that the CBR CMs were being beaten up on the daily by guests. I felt bad for them and actually found myself apologizing to him. I clearly was delusional at this point, maybe it was the sewer gases.

Outside of a few CM in the food court that were very sweet and helpful, most were downright cranky which is not the norm.

We had food court issues, couldn’t get our orders right and long wait times. Nothing earth shattering but just little things that add up.

My husband and I concluded that CBR wasn’t quite ready to be open and the management didn’t know how to handle guest relations. Maybe it was just our week and some bad luck. CBR was not full to the max with guests but it definitely wasn’t empty. You’d never think we were in Rona times based on walks around CBR.

We also realized that how the buses run during skyliner outages pre covid is not how the buses were running then. I’m not sure even the bus drivers knew what the policies were in July and August.

In the grand scheme of our trip, we really didn’t care that stuff took longer. We were never rushed to get anywhere and more annoyed at the poor customer service we experienced. As far as the resort itself, we didn’t find it to be suited to our taste with the theming and location. Just our personal preference. I think it’s classification as a moderate stands because of dining options, the pool and room size but it’s a value resort IMO as large as it is and all the internal bus stops it has. The rooms are devoid of Disney theming and the aesthetics are dramatically different from the nice new lobby. It’s like your room is part of Motel 6 but the lobby belongs at the Hilton.

All that long winded response to basically say that CBR isn’t for us and we are definitely not staying there again. And if you read all this and think I’m crazy, that”s ok. I would probably think that too. We’ve stayed at WDW tons and have always had wonderful resort experiences.

Thanks for sharing, and sorry you had to deal with all that. I probably wouldn't return if we experienced that stuff too. I'm sure you're right in that some of it was from the craziness of re-opening, but there is no excuse for poor attitudes or dropping the ball from the service aspect. Fortunately, we did not experience that at CBR but I will admit we did not have many encounters with the staff there at all. The current procedures are keeping actual human contact at a minimum.