- Joined
- Jul 14, 2002
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- 339
So we love to eat at Disney World. We love to go to Disney World so much that we moved to Central Florida this year in large part to be close to the Mouse. We havent gone to the parks as often as we thought we would and stayed away all summer due to the heat and crowds.
We booked a week at the All-Stars with 1-day tickets on Free MYW+D (with rack room rate). We did not plan to stay at the resort, just eat like crazy and maybe use the pool a couple times. We live about 20 minutes away. Im sure 90% of you think were crazy and/or have no lives (two points that are hard to argue!) but hey read the first sentence here!
At first it was me, DH, DS3 and DD1 (both kids share off our plates 95% of the time at all restaurants and we usually order appetizers both so we get something quickly and so we have extra to share around). Then we had a friend call and say he and his DD5 and DD9 were coming to stay with us and go to WDW for three days during our week on the plan. So I called and added just him to our room, which cost an extra $10 fee to the resort for an third adult, and his park ticket. So our cards said Disney Dining A03C01.
I tell you all this because we had two kids with us who legitimately were not on the plan for a few days and another kid who was on the plan but didnt use it much. The two girls did order several kids meals and also DH and DHs friend drank a few bottles of wine and beer but for the most part kids meals are footnotes in my memory of eating this week.
One other note the extras at TS we paid for with the DDE. Each meal, I simply put our room card and the DDE card in the folio and said to charge the balance to the room. We always got the 20% off (except at Teppanyaki where they dont do DDE) and it was smooth like buttah no problems anywhere.
Here are all our reviews (only including food on plan except where noted, all scores our of 10):
All-Star Movies World Premiere Food Court (2TS/1Sn) Everything was hot and tasty (spicy chicken sandwich was very spicy by Disney standards). CMs were kind and explained plan to us, very easy and no restrictions.
Citricos (4 TS) We had never eaten here before partially due to the high entrée costs and partly because we never heard much about this place. We jumped in and told the waiter we were on the plan, he explained it to us, again, no restrictions, everything very nice. Foie gras ravioli, gateau de crab, braised veal shank, halibut, kids Dalmatian biscuit, Cinderellabration chocolate crown dessert, milk, tea, virgin pina colada. Ravioli was great, crab was very small (3 bites) but tasty, veal was very generous and fall-off-the-bone, halibut was not memorable honestly, Dalmatian biscuits fantastic and Cinderallabration dessert excellent and beautiful with the chocolate crown. This was the only time all week we were allowed a smoothie or frozen drink at TS. Service was gracious but he had us batched up with two other tables to the point that when the checks came, he presented us with one, then looked at it and without moving pivoted and gave it to the other table and gave us ours (dont know how to explain this but felt like he was a coach handing out jerseys). The hostess picked a fight with another cast member in the middle of my checking in with her, and the seater referred to us multiple times as hey guys. We thought the theming of this restaurant was vague and the service too casual for the foie gras ravioli menu. Food 7/Service 6/Atmosphere 6 (total $132.27 to plan)
The next day was the only day we ate lunch or dinner at home all week. I made some mac n cheese for lunch and it was, um, fine.
Jiko (6 TS) Now our friends join us so we are up to 7 people total but only 3 on plan. We have eaten at Jiko about 20 times and love to take company there. Its unique and its consistently great, and this time was not disappointing. We had the duck firecracker rolls, kalamata olive flatbread, coffee chicken flatbread, tamarind beef short ribs, pork tenderloin, and pan-fried halibut, then the apple sorbet, chocolate peanut-butter cake and a plate of 5 chocolate mousse crunches from Boma.
(Huh, you ask? When we sat down, my son was spazzing about not getting to eat at Boma (hes 3, we eat at Disney a lot, OK?) so the server kindly asked if she could get him something from there, that wasnt the issue so I said no but when dessert time came I asked her if she could get something for me and she said it might be pushing it, so I said dont worry, but all of us sudden she brought me a plate of 5 of them and we all shared them and they were better than either of the other two desserts so there!).
Rolls and flatbreads are the bomb there, just unbeatable IMO, but we all liked the kalamata flatbread way more than the chicken one, which was just kind of average and ordinary. The halibut was a smaller portion than Im used to (this dish used to be with monkfish but no more) but as I have said before the sauce on this dish would make roadkill taste great. DHs friend said he could have eaten the short ribs with a straw they were so tender and DH liked his pork and very tart apple dessert. The kids wound up with most of the chocolate cake, which is OK but not great. Waitress rang up crunches as pudding. She was great and got a sizable extra tip for her effort. Food 9/Service 9/Atmosphere 7 (somebodys baby was crying, oops that was ours) (total $175.87 to plan)
Donalds Breakfastasaurus (3 TS) This place is insane but it was the only character breakfast we could get reservations for on one-month notice. Character interaction is brief (when Minnie stopped by, my daughter was scared of her, so she left the table completely instead of walking around to the other 3 kids, we had to ask her handler to bring her back please). Food is OK but nothing spectacular and a bit limited on the hot food if you dont eat pork. Food 5/Service 7 (he was funny!)/Atmosphere 3 (total $65.34 to plan)
Tusker House (4 CS) Kids and adults all ate well here; everything is great and food has some nutritional value so thats unique for CS. I think their ½ turkey wrap is enough for 2 people and I shared between me and my 2 kids. Desserts were just OK or we were full or both. Cashier charged DHs friend cash for a second milk even though he paid OOP for a beer and was using 2 CS credits, odd. I would have questioned it but we ordered separately and he wasnt familiar with the plan.
Le Cellier (3 TS/-3 TS) OK Im going to get flamed here but this sucked big-time. We love Le Cellier and have been happily eating there a few times a year since they became TS from the old buffet. But tonight they were so far off their game that it will be a while before we return for sure. We heard apologies to different guests in different situations throughout the evening. We were told wed have to wait 20-30 minutes to get one table all together or we could accept separate but nearby tables. We opted to wait and I am not kidding seconds before our pager went off both people we spoke to at the host stand left when we were paged and seated it was to separate tables. I was like, no way. So I asked the manager Staci, who happened to be right there, if we could instead take the 7-top that was all set and ready nearby. She said maybe, why dont you guys go out and wait; when I explained wed done the waiting gig already, she told us we could have that table but that the server wouldnt be ready for us for about 10 minutes because she just got another table. We said fine and prepared to wait. Stephanie/Tiffany (one on badge, one on bill, verbally told us to call her Tiff came by right away and said it was no problem, what would we like to drink. We were initially relieved. But she was gone for like 20 minutes at a time during multiple points in the meal, as in vanished completely. DH got his soup but no spoon and had to wait for her to go find one, which honestly took over 5 more minutes. I got the chicken and it was literally the size of one chicken tender. I finally drank the water from my daughters sippy cup because it had been an hour since I got water last. Another waiter walked by during one of Tiffs lapses, and I held up my empty glass, smiled and tried to get his attention, but he looked at me and shrugged and hurried by. I guess he was swamped too. I found the service appalling and when we had been there over 2 hours, and had been done eating for 20 minutes, and Tiff came by and said, Hows it going? I just went nuts. I was like, we want our dessert to go, we have been here too long. She offered two choices for dessert and I was just too mad to even eat more, so the guys said one of each please. Seriously, another 20 minutes went by as we waited for them to put chocolate cake into a box and bring the check. I walked back over to the manager and just nearly exploded (which for me, meant talking fast and directly but not yelling or anything rude). She said they were really swamped with being completely booked, and Food and Wine Festival, and blah blah (which I say because those are things you know about beforehand and should like, plan for). She said since we had such bad service she could zero out the grat from our plan, which after I decoded, I said that doesnt really help me. Her response: Yes but it hurts the server. I was like, I dont want to hurt anyone, I just want to leave and forget this meal and I dont think we should have to pay for it. She then offered to refund our credits and wrote down all the information from our card. The next day I checked our account at All-Stars and they said there were no inquiries as to trying to refund our credits, but when I mentioned Stacis promise and our abysmal experience, she did a 3 TS credit in about 1.2 seconds. Kids meals and wine were about $60 here, which we still paid, and honestly I dont even think our entire meal was worth that. Flame away! Food 6/Service 1/Atmosphere 3 (because it took so long to get seated) (total $125 to plan)
Main Street Bakery (3 CS) Heavenly cherry Danish and darn good yogurt granola parfait were the highlights here, the low-light being dry cinnamon rolls and that our friend once again got taken by the cashier, who said he couldnt have a banana or coffee as a snack. I know the banana should have worked, dont know about the coffee. Our friend paid OOP for those.
Liberty Tree Tavern (lunch) (3 TS) We love lunch here and the food was great like always though the service was extremely slow and I can see why people dont want to take a 1.5 hour break for lunch at MK. 2 fried cheese sticks, declaration salad, colony salad, pilgrims feast, old glory burger, pumpkin shake in paper cup, apple tart, chocolate liberation cake. The fried cheese here is just fantastic and we ate most of the 2 orders (with 4 kids, keep in mind). My son ordered only the shake, and since we only ordered 2 desserts I assumed he would count that as a third dessert but he charged us separately for it. I didnt argue and I didnt tip extra. He was really slow and by that time I wanted to move along (our friends had already left to ride rides instead of ordering dessert). To do it again I would order just cheese and salad and maybe the pilgrims feast and make a little one-course family style thing out of it to save time. Food 7/Service 5/Atmosphere 7 (total $74 to plan)
Cinderellas Royal Table (dinner) (2 TS) We had to wait about 20 minutes past our reservation time and I am not sure why. We were the last people seated for the evening and when we got in, the restaurant was half-empty (half-full?). But we had one of the better experiences here for just this reason. No Cinderella in the lobby, no slippers (ouch, I never even got one of these before they dumped them). But we had a quiet, relaxed but not too slow dinner with a nice server (Michelle, who was helpful but not "regal") and decent food. 2 seafood spring rolls and 2 filets, 1 kids crown sundae and 1 chocolate cake. I was still full from lunch, so I just ate the spring roll and so DH ate the filet and dessert and we shared a credit, this was the only time we did this (no problem) and we paid OOP for our sons kids meal which he ate none of anyway because we all ate tons of pretzel bread. Spring rolls were large, tasty and the sweet chili sauce was a fantastic compliment. Filets were good I hear, DH was impressed and this is rare for him. Chocolate cake was great and crown sundae was a disappointment. Its just vanilla ice cream with sprinkles and Hersheys syrup plus a little candy chocolate crown on top. Food 7/Service 8/Atmosphere 10 (total $100.43 to plan)
Wolfgang Pucks Express/Marketplace (3 CS) We just wanted a CS we could drive to because we werent going to the parks during this day (our friends left). This turned out to be the best CS all week by far. BBQ chicken pizza, BBQ chicken salad and chicken quesadilla w/side of fries, though they restricted bottled drinks (fountain only) and happened to only have one dessert that day (crème brulee). The food was generous and great. You order and take a table number stand, they bring you the food. Also the value here is excellent because I think the bill was about $45 and it was fairly worth it because of the food quality. I also left a $5 tip on the table because the food runner went to a lot of trouble for us, getting us boxes and such for leftovers.
Eat around the World Showcase dinner (3 CS/11 Sn) We had reservations for Alfredo this night but were a) running late and b) not in the mood for anything resembling formal. So we decided to snack our way around the Food and Wine Festival. The kids never got out of the stroller, we just stopped and fed them every country or so! It was so much fun. Usually I begrudge the $3.50 for ¼ cup of soup and such, but not when you have like 20 snack credits like we did. We just got everything we wanted. They took the plan for every single food item at every single booth. The woman at China was going too fast and accidentally charged us actual money for our food, which the kind folks at the All-Stars corrected later without any trouble at all (I think we came out ahead in fact because they only charged us 1 snack credit instead of 2 and took off the $7 charge). By France we were jonesing for some sugar and to also sit down and I went in and ordered everything I wanted in the pastry cabinet, which was 5 things, and then got some madelines at the cash register with 3 bottled waters and voila! 3 CS credits. As the kind mademoiselle explained to me for one counter service coupon you can have one salty and one sweetsie, or two sweetsies, and any drink. Now my DH and I refer to all desserts as sweetsies.
Sunshine Seasons food court (3 CS) We had a humongous lunch here on 3 CS credits. This place has a fantastic dessert selection and real food too that isnt all fried and vegetable-free. I had chicken from the wok station, which was just OK, but it came with excellent noodles and fantastic simply steamed broccoli. Butterfinger cheesecake was excellent but ugly, key lime pie was gorgeous but more lemony than key limey. Only annoying thing here is the throng of wide-eyed tourists armed with heavy and unbalanced trays ogling the dessert display but not actually ordering anything, so you can either wait all day or just order and feel like youre cutting (the CM was visibly relieved when we jumped in and ordered).
California Grill (4 TS) I came in with sky-high expectations here. We love this place and had our wedding rehearsal dinner here. I have ordered the Makunochi sushi platter every time Ive eaten there since 1998, its been gone from the menu since about 2003 but theyve always done it for me anyway since. We ordered the four-cheese flatbread and the big bang roll sans tuna to share as appetizers, and the filet and Makunochi for dinner. I asked if smoothies were on the plan and the waitress said no. DS3 said I want a smoothie and she answered him in full with flavors, then turned to me and said she hoped that was OK. Needless to say we bought him a smoothie. Again. So then we order and she said they cant do the Makunochi and I asked her to please go ask Yoshie (the sushi chef) if she would do it for me as a favor. Gail (server) looked very annoyed and proceeded to ask about four other CMs but NOT Yoshie some questions and then came back and said she would do something for me, but it would be much simpler than the Makunochi. It turned out to be the Deluxe plus the Tuna Three Ways on the same plate. Youre probably thinking I scored here because I got more sushi than just the Deluxe, but I was pretty mad because our server hadnt really tried to get me what I wanted, which is the same thing I have been eating there for 7 years, and which about 12 servers have pulled off since it went off the menu. Also I thought her choice was poor given that I had asked for no tuna on the appetizer roll. DH said the filet was a stringier cut of beef than he is used to there (CG being his favorite filet anywhere ever always). We had the chocolate lava cake, which unfortunately I ordered by rote without looking at the menu, it is currently served with peanut butter ice cream and on top of a plate covered in grape jelly. The cake was great as usual but the bottom of it was completely nasty. Im not sure whose idea it was to pair chocolate and grape jelly. The PB ice cream was great. If you order this, Id suggest asking them to leave the jelly off. DH had some sort of tapioca and fruit dessert, which he loved. I asked for tea with dessert and she listed like three flavors. I happen to know that CG has a tea menu with about 8 flavors and asked for a flavor that I know to be on the menu but Gail did not mention (apricot) and she said, I think I can do that for you, as if it was a favor. I didnt feel Gail did her job this evening. She didnt do as I requested by asking Yoshie about the Makunochi, didnt offer the tea menu when I asked for tea, didnt really pay us a lot of attention on empty waters and such. She did spend a lot of time talking to two other CMs. Food 7/Service 5/Atmosphere 9 (I think we had the best table in the house, right in the center of the corner, so we could see Epcot and the MK). (total $145.15 to plan)
Beaches & Cream (2 TS) Confusing because we were with a barely 1-year-old baby and the server seemed confused that we needed a highchair and even after we got our own, she seemed put out. Then she finally noticed we had no menus but she did correct that quickly. After a rough start, she very clearly explained what constituted appetizers and entrees. I asked if a milkshake could be a drink (just wondering) and she said no because it was frozen so not applicable on the plan. We ordered a Caesar salad and onion rings for apps, Coke and a lime rickey, cheeseburger with fries and chicken sandwich with fruit, and banana split and No Way José. Everything was great! There was hardly anyone else in the place and after the initial hiccup, we had fair service (she disappeared a few times, I asked another server to bring me more water once). Another family came in and sat down and started talking to the server. The server told them it was TS, not CS on the dining plan and they left. Im not sure why people think this might be CS? But I wondered, was it empty because people on the plan dont think its a good value? We ate there because I wanted a crazy ice cream concoction and we couldnt get reservations for 50s Prime Time. But, I usually avoid this place because its not really a $9 chicken sandwich and I dont like feeling ripped off, so it was a nice treat to eat there without looking at prices. Food 8/Service 6/Atmosphere7. I wound up tipping her a couple extra dollars because she put my sons milk on the plan instead of giving us a bill for like $1.75 separately and this was literally the only add-on we had all week. (total $59.20 to plan)
Teppanyaki Dining Room (2 TS) Other than Le Cellier, which was just off and would likely be great for other people on other nights, this was the only meal I would skip if I were to do it again. Teppanyaki wasnt off, it just has lost its touch due to some apparent nickel-and-diming. But hey, theyre still packing the place, so what would be their incentive NOT to charge more for less? The waitress Taeko asked the other people at our table if they were on the plan, they said no, she smiled. She asked us, we said yes, she nearly growled. This was the only place that treated us this way. The appetizers are the soup and salad that used to be included with the meals, and the sushi, which I would consider an appetizer and which the prices indicate are appetizers, are not countable as appetizers. I even asked a manager on this just in case Taeko was wrong because I usually order a spicy tuna roll and the server likes to clarify with me as an appetizer?. The manager gave me a long story about how they arent owned by Disney and Disney audits every single check they send in, and that since the sushi is not under appetizers on their menu, Disney will stop paying them if they serve anyone sushi for an appetizer. Uh-huh. Also in case you havent already read this, whereas they used to have combination dinners such as steak and lobster, scallops, shrimp and lobster, now lobster is a side dish for $17.99 and therefore you cant get it on the plan. I would be OK with that except it used to be an entrée choice and it wasnt even that much more than the other combinations. I ordered a sake for DH and Taeko literally raised her voice and said There is a separate charge for that!!. Gee really? We had a salad, a miso soup (here I asked for extra tofu and Taeko said she would have to charge me for it, and I was like, OK I can pay lady!), a chicken and shrimp and a sirloin and shrimp. The food was great, same as it ever was, so at least that part hasnt changed. Taeko disappeared and came back to refill the drinks for the other people at our table. We were finished with our dinner and I said, excuse me, as she was hurrying away but without turning she put up a finger as if to say just a minute, except 15 minutes later she hadnt come back. The manager walked by and saw that all 8 of us were done, mostly out of drinks, and was like, oops. We asked for the dessert menu and ordered the ginger cake from him. It wasnt gingery at all (or good) and I think it was actually chestnut cake, but maybe old. He apologized profusely and then while he was there Taeko came back and smiled at us as if we were cousins and everything was great and asked if there was anything else she could do. The manager had already given us the checks, including one for the dining plan split out and one to pay separately for the sake. I looked at them and handed Taeko my room card (no DDE here). When she brought the checks and my card back, there was a 15% gratuity added to the sake check. This was not on the original check and Im pretty sure adding something on when you charge the customers card must be illegal. I was mad but not enough to argue it out with her and we just signed it (no additional tip if you havent guessed) and we left. This was the first time all week we got this charge and I dont know if it was legit but in either case it should not have been added after the bill was presented and sent back to charge IMO. Even the timestamp on the bill was newer than the one on the food portion of the bill so I know for sure she changed it. Food 7/Service 3/Atmosphere 6 (total $88.27 to plan)
The Mara (10 CS) Yikes. I chose this for our last-day lunch for one reason the chocolate mousse crunches (packed with zebra domes) in the dessert cooler. I think its funny I ate these twice on the trip but never went to Boma (we love Boma but just went the previous week). I got hot food for the four of us KM chicken strips (great, very crunchy and well-seasoned), African stew (excellent, worth going just for this) and tandoori chicken pizza (great chicken, terrible pizza, I just ate the chicken off). Then I raided the grab n go case and got one of each of everything and its now in our fridge at home. We will eat it and were in a unique position to actually do this since we didnt have to fly home or drive far. So far the fruit plate has been great and Im anxious to try the rotisserie chicken on pretzel bread sandwich. The chocolate mousse crunches are excellent as always. The CM knew what I was doing and eked me on. This was over $100 and I didnt track the CS spending but this was nice for us since we will keep eating Disney food for another couple days!
Kona Café (2 TS) Our last meal. We checked in and it was insane at the Polynesian because of the Halloween party that night. Ohana was packed and the line to check in leaked over to Kona, where there was also a substantial line to check in. Once we checked in, right on time at 5:30, we were told 10-15 minutes. I asked if we could have a great server, just because wed had a couple duds, and the hostess was like, whatever. We were paged roughly 12 seconds after I walked away from the podium and seated right behind the podium. Thuy was our server and he appeared right away and my daughter was yelling bloody murder. I told him she wanted some water, he ran off to get it and brought it back immediately. I gave it to her and the cup was like an off-switch to her crying. He was visibly proud to have helped out. Throughout the meal Thuy was efficient and friendly, definitely the best server wed had all week. The food was also excellent and served very hot crab cakes, duck potstickers, macadamia mahi mahi (which I ordered with broccoli and asparagus instead of the starches, which I should have done all week honestly), Kilauea chocolate torte was amazing and humongous but excellent, really chocolatey and gooey with molten center and yet this salty graham cracker crust that made it just WOW, passionfruit mousse (a bit too mild) and the kiddie cone for my kiddos (also milk and hot tea). Everything was great including the lapu lapu we paid separately for (oddly this came up costing $10.99 on the bill when it was $12.49 on the menu so maybe theyre just doing a price change here). My kids were off and I still thought it was the best TS of the trip in terms of overall experience, just because we were so impressed. Service was very crisp and yet friendly a great thing. Food 8/Service 9/Atmosphere 5 (for the insanity) (total $84.70 to plan)
Snacks, we grabbed a bunch of Mickey Rice Krispies treats on the way out of the resort a couple times. Its amazing how great these are. Now Im hooked for life, and Id never tried one before. Also the kids got ice cream bars at AK one day. Mainly we had fun at the F&WF that was such a great unexpected bonus of the plan to be able to use them that way.
Overall we liked the plan very well. We ate more in TS alone than our total hotel bill cost (hotel bill was about $900, plan alone as an add-on would have been almost exactly that much). We were treated poorly at Teppanyaki and wouldnt go back there on or off the plan given the sour experience and this was formerly one of our favorites. There were too many desserts offered to me and I have no will power so I gained about 3 pounds in the week. I liked the places that were very flexible (we stopped in Norways Kringla bakery one day and they told us we could have a green or fruit salad, any sandwich, any dessert and any drink on the plan; unfortunately this didnt make it into our tour mostly because it rained so much this week). I didnt like the places that were inflexible or removed their showcase items from the mix (we stopped in at Beach Club Marketplace and they have a printout showing what you can get, and the drink has to be under $2, and choice of only a cookie or a Mickey bar for dessert when they have this huge bakery case and gelato display; this just seems like a mean tease). I didnt like the inconsistencies:
1) some TS places do a 15% gratuity, some do 18%, so I had to keep a close eye when adding on additional tip
2) only one place all week allowed a smoothie but it was the first night so we were a bit disappointed because the language in the brochure just says any non-alcoholic beverage this may not matter to most people but we are smoothie nuts
3) you dont know by looking at the brochure which places have restrictions so like the Powerade we got at our hotel, we couldnt have gotten at Beach Club and this is just strange
I think the plan is one of those things you learn a lot from doing and you should go in with the attitude that you will eat whatever you want and pay for whats not covered (like the schoolbread I wanted after the nasty Teppanyaki dessert or a Dole Whip). I also think the few inconsistencies would be easy to remedy if Disney was interested in doing so. Im also going to ask a CM friend of mine how the outlets are reimbursed because those terms must be interesting to explain the restrictions.
We spent about $350 in wine, beer, extra kids stuff, and souvenirs so I know that by getting you into the TS restaurants, Disney is more able to sell alcohol at least. We also tried a few places on the plan that we have been uncompelled to try for years (Wolfgang Puck Express, Citricos) and places that we have tried but felt a bit price-gouged by (Beaches & Cream, F&WF booths).
Also WDW TS restaurants were completely booked and swamped all week, mostly with people who were apparently keeping their reservations, which may be unusual. So there was even a sign at MK saying there was no more TS availability and the following CS restaurants were available Nuts! We werent able to change anything and got stuck with a couple odd times to eat (4:45 dinners, nothing available at 50s PT until like 8:50 a month in advance) so dining plan has obviously affected availability.
If you made it this far it might have taken you less time to GO to WDW for the week! Id be happy to answer any questions if there are even possibly any left to be asked!
We booked a week at the All-Stars with 1-day tickets on Free MYW+D (with rack room rate). We did not plan to stay at the resort, just eat like crazy and maybe use the pool a couple times. We live about 20 minutes away. Im sure 90% of you think were crazy and/or have no lives (two points that are hard to argue!) but hey read the first sentence here!
At first it was me, DH, DS3 and DD1 (both kids share off our plates 95% of the time at all restaurants and we usually order appetizers both so we get something quickly and so we have extra to share around). Then we had a friend call and say he and his DD5 and DD9 were coming to stay with us and go to WDW for three days during our week on the plan. So I called and added just him to our room, which cost an extra $10 fee to the resort for an third adult, and his park ticket. So our cards said Disney Dining A03C01.
I tell you all this because we had two kids with us who legitimately were not on the plan for a few days and another kid who was on the plan but didnt use it much. The two girls did order several kids meals and also DH and DHs friend drank a few bottles of wine and beer but for the most part kids meals are footnotes in my memory of eating this week.
One other note the extras at TS we paid for with the DDE. Each meal, I simply put our room card and the DDE card in the folio and said to charge the balance to the room. We always got the 20% off (except at Teppanyaki where they dont do DDE) and it was smooth like buttah no problems anywhere.
Here are all our reviews (only including food on plan except where noted, all scores our of 10):
All-Star Movies World Premiere Food Court (2TS/1Sn) Everything was hot and tasty (spicy chicken sandwich was very spicy by Disney standards). CMs were kind and explained plan to us, very easy and no restrictions.
Citricos (4 TS) We had never eaten here before partially due to the high entrée costs and partly because we never heard much about this place. We jumped in and told the waiter we were on the plan, he explained it to us, again, no restrictions, everything very nice. Foie gras ravioli, gateau de crab, braised veal shank, halibut, kids Dalmatian biscuit, Cinderellabration chocolate crown dessert, milk, tea, virgin pina colada. Ravioli was great, crab was very small (3 bites) but tasty, veal was very generous and fall-off-the-bone, halibut was not memorable honestly, Dalmatian biscuits fantastic and Cinderallabration dessert excellent and beautiful with the chocolate crown. This was the only time all week we were allowed a smoothie or frozen drink at TS. Service was gracious but he had us batched up with two other tables to the point that when the checks came, he presented us with one, then looked at it and without moving pivoted and gave it to the other table and gave us ours (dont know how to explain this but felt like he was a coach handing out jerseys). The hostess picked a fight with another cast member in the middle of my checking in with her, and the seater referred to us multiple times as hey guys. We thought the theming of this restaurant was vague and the service too casual for the foie gras ravioli menu. Food 7/Service 6/Atmosphere 6 (total $132.27 to plan)
The next day was the only day we ate lunch or dinner at home all week. I made some mac n cheese for lunch and it was, um, fine.
Jiko (6 TS) Now our friends join us so we are up to 7 people total but only 3 on plan. We have eaten at Jiko about 20 times and love to take company there. Its unique and its consistently great, and this time was not disappointing. We had the duck firecracker rolls, kalamata olive flatbread, coffee chicken flatbread, tamarind beef short ribs, pork tenderloin, and pan-fried halibut, then the apple sorbet, chocolate peanut-butter cake and a plate of 5 chocolate mousse crunches from Boma.
(Huh, you ask? When we sat down, my son was spazzing about not getting to eat at Boma (hes 3, we eat at Disney a lot, OK?) so the server kindly asked if she could get him something from there, that wasnt the issue so I said no but when dessert time came I asked her if she could get something for me and she said it might be pushing it, so I said dont worry, but all of us sudden she brought me a plate of 5 of them and we all shared them and they were better than either of the other two desserts so there!).
Rolls and flatbreads are the bomb there, just unbeatable IMO, but we all liked the kalamata flatbread way more than the chicken one, which was just kind of average and ordinary. The halibut was a smaller portion than Im used to (this dish used to be with monkfish but no more) but as I have said before the sauce on this dish would make roadkill taste great. DHs friend said he could have eaten the short ribs with a straw they were so tender and DH liked his pork and very tart apple dessert. The kids wound up with most of the chocolate cake, which is OK but not great. Waitress rang up crunches as pudding. She was great and got a sizable extra tip for her effort. Food 9/Service 9/Atmosphere 7 (somebodys baby was crying, oops that was ours) (total $175.87 to plan)
Donalds Breakfastasaurus (3 TS) This place is insane but it was the only character breakfast we could get reservations for on one-month notice. Character interaction is brief (when Minnie stopped by, my daughter was scared of her, so she left the table completely instead of walking around to the other 3 kids, we had to ask her handler to bring her back please). Food is OK but nothing spectacular and a bit limited on the hot food if you dont eat pork. Food 5/Service 7 (he was funny!)/Atmosphere 3 (total $65.34 to plan)
Tusker House (4 CS) Kids and adults all ate well here; everything is great and food has some nutritional value so thats unique for CS. I think their ½ turkey wrap is enough for 2 people and I shared between me and my 2 kids. Desserts were just OK or we were full or both. Cashier charged DHs friend cash for a second milk even though he paid OOP for a beer and was using 2 CS credits, odd. I would have questioned it but we ordered separately and he wasnt familiar with the plan.
Le Cellier (3 TS/-3 TS) OK Im going to get flamed here but this sucked big-time. We love Le Cellier and have been happily eating there a few times a year since they became TS from the old buffet. But tonight they were so far off their game that it will be a while before we return for sure. We heard apologies to different guests in different situations throughout the evening. We were told wed have to wait 20-30 minutes to get one table all together or we could accept separate but nearby tables. We opted to wait and I am not kidding seconds before our pager went off both people we spoke to at the host stand left when we were paged and seated it was to separate tables. I was like, no way. So I asked the manager Staci, who happened to be right there, if we could instead take the 7-top that was all set and ready nearby. She said maybe, why dont you guys go out and wait; when I explained wed done the waiting gig already, she told us we could have that table but that the server wouldnt be ready for us for about 10 minutes because she just got another table. We said fine and prepared to wait. Stephanie/Tiffany (one on badge, one on bill, verbally told us to call her Tiff came by right away and said it was no problem, what would we like to drink. We were initially relieved. But she was gone for like 20 minutes at a time during multiple points in the meal, as in vanished completely. DH got his soup but no spoon and had to wait for her to go find one, which honestly took over 5 more minutes. I got the chicken and it was literally the size of one chicken tender. I finally drank the water from my daughters sippy cup because it had been an hour since I got water last. Another waiter walked by during one of Tiffs lapses, and I held up my empty glass, smiled and tried to get his attention, but he looked at me and shrugged and hurried by. I guess he was swamped too. I found the service appalling and when we had been there over 2 hours, and had been done eating for 20 minutes, and Tiff came by and said, Hows it going? I just went nuts. I was like, we want our dessert to go, we have been here too long. She offered two choices for dessert and I was just too mad to even eat more, so the guys said one of each please. Seriously, another 20 minutes went by as we waited for them to put chocolate cake into a box and bring the check. I walked back over to the manager and just nearly exploded (which for me, meant talking fast and directly but not yelling or anything rude). She said they were really swamped with being completely booked, and Food and Wine Festival, and blah blah (which I say because those are things you know about beforehand and should like, plan for). She said since we had such bad service she could zero out the grat from our plan, which after I decoded, I said that doesnt really help me. Her response: Yes but it hurts the server. I was like, I dont want to hurt anyone, I just want to leave and forget this meal and I dont think we should have to pay for it. She then offered to refund our credits and wrote down all the information from our card. The next day I checked our account at All-Stars and they said there were no inquiries as to trying to refund our credits, but when I mentioned Stacis promise and our abysmal experience, she did a 3 TS credit in about 1.2 seconds. Kids meals and wine were about $60 here, which we still paid, and honestly I dont even think our entire meal was worth that. Flame away! Food 6/Service 1/Atmosphere 3 (because it took so long to get seated) (total $125 to plan)
Main Street Bakery (3 CS) Heavenly cherry Danish and darn good yogurt granola parfait were the highlights here, the low-light being dry cinnamon rolls and that our friend once again got taken by the cashier, who said he couldnt have a banana or coffee as a snack. I know the banana should have worked, dont know about the coffee. Our friend paid OOP for those.
Liberty Tree Tavern (lunch) (3 TS) We love lunch here and the food was great like always though the service was extremely slow and I can see why people dont want to take a 1.5 hour break for lunch at MK. 2 fried cheese sticks, declaration salad, colony salad, pilgrims feast, old glory burger, pumpkin shake in paper cup, apple tart, chocolate liberation cake. The fried cheese here is just fantastic and we ate most of the 2 orders (with 4 kids, keep in mind). My son ordered only the shake, and since we only ordered 2 desserts I assumed he would count that as a third dessert but he charged us separately for it. I didnt argue and I didnt tip extra. He was really slow and by that time I wanted to move along (our friends had already left to ride rides instead of ordering dessert). To do it again I would order just cheese and salad and maybe the pilgrims feast and make a little one-course family style thing out of it to save time. Food 7/Service 5/Atmosphere 7 (total $74 to plan)
Cinderellas Royal Table (dinner) (2 TS) We had to wait about 20 minutes past our reservation time and I am not sure why. We were the last people seated for the evening and when we got in, the restaurant was half-empty (half-full?). But we had one of the better experiences here for just this reason. No Cinderella in the lobby, no slippers (ouch, I never even got one of these before they dumped them). But we had a quiet, relaxed but not too slow dinner with a nice server (Michelle, who was helpful but not "regal") and decent food. 2 seafood spring rolls and 2 filets, 1 kids crown sundae and 1 chocolate cake. I was still full from lunch, so I just ate the spring roll and so DH ate the filet and dessert and we shared a credit, this was the only time we did this (no problem) and we paid OOP for our sons kids meal which he ate none of anyway because we all ate tons of pretzel bread. Spring rolls were large, tasty and the sweet chili sauce was a fantastic compliment. Filets were good I hear, DH was impressed and this is rare for him. Chocolate cake was great and crown sundae was a disappointment. Its just vanilla ice cream with sprinkles and Hersheys syrup plus a little candy chocolate crown on top. Food 7/Service 8/Atmosphere 10 (total $100.43 to plan)
Wolfgang Pucks Express/Marketplace (3 CS) We just wanted a CS we could drive to because we werent going to the parks during this day (our friends left). This turned out to be the best CS all week by far. BBQ chicken pizza, BBQ chicken salad and chicken quesadilla w/side of fries, though they restricted bottled drinks (fountain only) and happened to only have one dessert that day (crème brulee). The food was generous and great. You order and take a table number stand, they bring you the food. Also the value here is excellent because I think the bill was about $45 and it was fairly worth it because of the food quality. I also left a $5 tip on the table because the food runner went to a lot of trouble for us, getting us boxes and such for leftovers.
Eat around the World Showcase dinner (3 CS/11 Sn) We had reservations for Alfredo this night but were a) running late and b) not in the mood for anything resembling formal. So we decided to snack our way around the Food and Wine Festival. The kids never got out of the stroller, we just stopped and fed them every country or so! It was so much fun. Usually I begrudge the $3.50 for ¼ cup of soup and such, but not when you have like 20 snack credits like we did. We just got everything we wanted. They took the plan for every single food item at every single booth. The woman at China was going too fast and accidentally charged us actual money for our food, which the kind folks at the All-Stars corrected later without any trouble at all (I think we came out ahead in fact because they only charged us 1 snack credit instead of 2 and took off the $7 charge). By France we were jonesing for some sugar and to also sit down and I went in and ordered everything I wanted in the pastry cabinet, which was 5 things, and then got some madelines at the cash register with 3 bottled waters and voila! 3 CS credits. As the kind mademoiselle explained to me for one counter service coupon you can have one salty and one sweetsie, or two sweetsies, and any drink. Now my DH and I refer to all desserts as sweetsies.
Sunshine Seasons food court (3 CS) We had a humongous lunch here on 3 CS credits. This place has a fantastic dessert selection and real food too that isnt all fried and vegetable-free. I had chicken from the wok station, which was just OK, but it came with excellent noodles and fantastic simply steamed broccoli. Butterfinger cheesecake was excellent but ugly, key lime pie was gorgeous but more lemony than key limey. Only annoying thing here is the throng of wide-eyed tourists armed with heavy and unbalanced trays ogling the dessert display but not actually ordering anything, so you can either wait all day or just order and feel like youre cutting (the CM was visibly relieved when we jumped in and ordered).
California Grill (4 TS) I came in with sky-high expectations here. We love this place and had our wedding rehearsal dinner here. I have ordered the Makunochi sushi platter every time Ive eaten there since 1998, its been gone from the menu since about 2003 but theyve always done it for me anyway since. We ordered the four-cheese flatbread and the big bang roll sans tuna to share as appetizers, and the filet and Makunochi for dinner. I asked if smoothies were on the plan and the waitress said no. DS3 said I want a smoothie and she answered him in full with flavors, then turned to me and said she hoped that was OK. Needless to say we bought him a smoothie. Again. So then we order and she said they cant do the Makunochi and I asked her to please go ask Yoshie (the sushi chef) if she would do it for me as a favor. Gail (server) looked very annoyed and proceeded to ask about four other CMs but NOT Yoshie some questions and then came back and said she would do something for me, but it would be much simpler than the Makunochi. It turned out to be the Deluxe plus the Tuna Three Ways on the same plate. Youre probably thinking I scored here because I got more sushi than just the Deluxe, but I was pretty mad because our server hadnt really tried to get me what I wanted, which is the same thing I have been eating there for 7 years, and which about 12 servers have pulled off since it went off the menu. Also I thought her choice was poor given that I had asked for no tuna on the appetizer roll. DH said the filet was a stringier cut of beef than he is used to there (CG being his favorite filet anywhere ever always). We had the chocolate lava cake, which unfortunately I ordered by rote without looking at the menu, it is currently served with peanut butter ice cream and on top of a plate covered in grape jelly. The cake was great as usual but the bottom of it was completely nasty. Im not sure whose idea it was to pair chocolate and grape jelly. The PB ice cream was great. If you order this, Id suggest asking them to leave the jelly off. DH had some sort of tapioca and fruit dessert, which he loved. I asked for tea with dessert and she listed like three flavors. I happen to know that CG has a tea menu with about 8 flavors and asked for a flavor that I know to be on the menu but Gail did not mention (apricot) and she said, I think I can do that for you, as if it was a favor. I didnt feel Gail did her job this evening. She didnt do as I requested by asking Yoshie about the Makunochi, didnt offer the tea menu when I asked for tea, didnt really pay us a lot of attention on empty waters and such. She did spend a lot of time talking to two other CMs. Food 7/Service 5/Atmosphere 9 (I think we had the best table in the house, right in the center of the corner, so we could see Epcot and the MK). (total $145.15 to plan)
Beaches & Cream (2 TS) Confusing because we were with a barely 1-year-old baby and the server seemed confused that we needed a highchair and even after we got our own, she seemed put out. Then she finally noticed we had no menus but she did correct that quickly. After a rough start, she very clearly explained what constituted appetizers and entrees. I asked if a milkshake could be a drink (just wondering) and she said no because it was frozen so not applicable on the plan. We ordered a Caesar salad and onion rings for apps, Coke and a lime rickey, cheeseburger with fries and chicken sandwich with fruit, and banana split and No Way José. Everything was great! There was hardly anyone else in the place and after the initial hiccup, we had fair service (she disappeared a few times, I asked another server to bring me more water once). Another family came in and sat down and started talking to the server. The server told them it was TS, not CS on the dining plan and they left. Im not sure why people think this might be CS? But I wondered, was it empty because people on the plan dont think its a good value? We ate there because I wanted a crazy ice cream concoction and we couldnt get reservations for 50s Prime Time. But, I usually avoid this place because its not really a $9 chicken sandwich and I dont like feeling ripped off, so it was a nice treat to eat there without looking at prices. Food 8/Service 6/Atmosphere7. I wound up tipping her a couple extra dollars because she put my sons milk on the plan instead of giving us a bill for like $1.75 separately and this was literally the only add-on we had all week. (total $59.20 to plan)
Teppanyaki Dining Room (2 TS) Other than Le Cellier, which was just off and would likely be great for other people on other nights, this was the only meal I would skip if I were to do it again. Teppanyaki wasnt off, it just has lost its touch due to some apparent nickel-and-diming. But hey, theyre still packing the place, so what would be their incentive NOT to charge more for less? The waitress Taeko asked the other people at our table if they were on the plan, they said no, she smiled. She asked us, we said yes, she nearly growled. This was the only place that treated us this way. The appetizers are the soup and salad that used to be included with the meals, and the sushi, which I would consider an appetizer and which the prices indicate are appetizers, are not countable as appetizers. I even asked a manager on this just in case Taeko was wrong because I usually order a spicy tuna roll and the server likes to clarify with me as an appetizer?. The manager gave me a long story about how they arent owned by Disney and Disney audits every single check they send in, and that since the sushi is not under appetizers on their menu, Disney will stop paying them if they serve anyone sushi for an appetizer. Uh-huh. Also in case you havent already read this, whereas they used to have combination dinners such as steak and lobster, scallops, shrimp and lobster, now lobster is a side dish for $17.99 and therefore you cant get it on the plan. I would be OK with that except it used to be an entrée choice and it wasnt even that much more than the other combinations. I ordered a sake for DH and Taeko literally raised her voice and said There is a separate charge for that!!. Gee really? We had a salad, a miso soup (here I asked for extra tofu and Taeko said she would have to charge me for it, and I was like, OK I can pay lady!), a chicken and shrimp and a sirloin and shrimp. The food was great, same as it ever was, so at least that part hasnt changed. Taeko disappeared and came back to refill the drinks for the other people at our table. We were finished with our dinner and I said, excuse me, as she was hurrying away but without turning she put up a finger as if to say just a minute, except 15 minutes later she hadnt come back. The manager walked by and saw that all 8 of us were done, mostly out of drinks, and was like, oops. We asked for the dessert menu and ordered the ginger cake from him. It wasnt gingery at all (or good) and I think it was actually chestnut cake, but maybe old. He apologized profusely and then while he was there Taeko came back and smiled at us as if we were cousins and everything was great and asked if there was anything else she could do. The manager had already given us the checks, including one for the dining plan split out and one to pay separately for the sake. I looked at them and handed Taeko my room card (no DDE here). When she brought the checks and my card back, there was a 15% gratuity added to the sake check. This was not on the original check and Im pretty sure adding something on when you charge the customers card must be illegal. I was mad but not enough to argue it out with her and we just signed it (no additional tip if you havent guessed) and we left. This was the first time all week we got this charge and I dont know if it was legit but in either case it should not have been added after the bill was presented and sent back to charge IMO. Even the timestamp on the bill was newer than the one on the food portion of the bill so I know for sure she changed it. Food 7/Service 3/Atmosphere 6 (total $88.27 to plan)
The Mara (10 CS) Yikes. I chose this for our last-day lunch for one reason the chocolate mousse crunches (packed with zebra domes) in the dessert cooler. I think its funny I ate these twice on the trip but never went to Boma (we love Boma but just went the previous week). I got hot food for the four of us KM chicken strips (great, very crunchy and well-seasoned), African stew (excellent, worth going just for this) and tandoori chicken pizza (great chicken, terrible pizza, I just ate the chicken off). Then I raided the grab n go case and got one of each of everything and its now in our fridge at home. We will eat it and were in a unique position to actually do this since we didnt have to fly home or drive far. So far the fruit plate has been great and Im anxious to try the rotisserie chicken on pretzel bread sandwich. The chocolate mousse crunches are excellent as always. The CM knew what I was doing and eked me on. This was over $100 and I didnt track the CS spending but this was nice for us since we will keep eating Disney food for another couple days!
Kona Café (2 TS) Our last meal. We checked in and it was insane at the Polynesian because of the Halloween party that night. Ohana was packed and the line to check in leaked over to Kona, where there was also a substantial line to check in. Once we checked in, right on time at 5:30, we were told 10-15 minutes. I asked if we could have a great server, just because wed had a couple duds, and the hostess was like, whatever. We were paged roughly 12 seconds after I walked away from the podium and seated right behind the podium. Thuy was our server and he appeared right away and my daughter was yelling bloody murder. I told him she wanted some water, he ran off to get it and brought it back immediately. I gave it to her and the cup was like an off-switch to her crying. He was visibly proud to have helped out. Throughout the meal Thuy was efficient and friendly, definitely the best server wed had all week. The food was also excellent and served very hot crab cakes, duck potstickers, macadamia mahi mahi (which I ordered with broccoli and asparagus instead of the starches, which I should have done all week honestly), Kilauea chocolate torte was amazing and humongous but excellent, really chocolatey and gooey with molten center and yet this salty graham cracker crust that made it just WOW, passionfruit mousse (a bit too mild) and the kiddie cone for my kiddos (also milk and hot tea). Everything was great including the lapu lapu we paid separately for (oddly this came up costing $10.99 on the bill when it was $12.49 on the menu so maybe theyre just doing a price change here). My kids were off and I still thought it was the best TS of the trip in terms of overall experience, just because we were so impressed. Service was very crisp and yet friendly a great thing. Food 8/Service 9/Atmosphere 5 (for the insanity) (total $84.70 to plan)
Snacks, we grabbed a bunch of Mickey Rice Krispies treats on the way out of the resort a couple times. Its amazing how great these are. Now Im hooked for life, and Id never tried one before. Also the kids got ice cream bars at AK one day. Mainly we had fun at the F&WF that was such a great unexpected bonus of the plan to be able to use them that way.
Overall we liked the plan very well. We ate more in TS alone than our total hotel bill cost (hotel bill was about $900, plan alone as an add-on would have been almost exactly that much). We were treated poorly at Teppanyaki and wouldnt go back there on or off the plan given the sour experience and this was formerly one of our favorites. There were too many desserts offered to me and I have no will power so I gained about 3 pounds in the week. I liked the places that were very flexible (we stopped in Norways Kringla bakery one day and they told us we could have a green or fruit salad, any sandwich, any dessert and any drink on the plan; unfortunately this didnt make it into our tour mostly because it rained so much this week). I didnt like the places that were inflexible or removed their showcase items from the mix (we stopped in at Beach Club Marketplace and they have a printout showing what you can get, and the drink has to be under $2, and choice of only a cookie or a Mickey bar for dessert when they have this huge bakery case and gelato display; this just seems like a mean tease). I didnt like the inconsistencies:
1) some TS places do a 15% gratuity, some do 18%, so I had to keep a close eye when adding on additional tip
2) only one place all week allowed a smoothie but it was the first night so we were a bit disappointed because the language in the brochure just says any non-alcoholic beverage this may not matter to most people but we are smoothie nuts
3) you dont know by looking at the brochure which places have restrictions so like the Powerade we got at our hotel, we couldnt have gotten at Beach Club and this is just strange
I think the plan is one of those things you learn a lot from doing and you should go in with the attitude that you will eat whatever you want and pay for whats not covered (like the schoolbread I wanted after the nasty Teppanyaki dessert or a Dole Whip). I also think the few inconsistencies would be easy to remedy if Disney was interested in doing so. Im also going to ask a CM friend of mine how the outlets are reimbursed because those terms must be interesting to explain the restrictions.
We spent about $350 in wine, beer, extra kids stuff, and souvenirs so I know that by getting you into the TS restaurants, Disney is more able to sell alcohol at least. We also tried a few places on the plan that we have been uncompelled to try for years (Wolfgang Puck Express, Citricos) and places that we have tried but felt a bit price-gouged by (Beaches & Cream, F&WF booths).
Also WDW TS restaurants were completely booked and swamped all week, mostly with people who were apparently keeping their reservations, which may be unusual. So there was even a sign at MK saying there was no more TS availability and the following CS restaurants were available Nuts! We werent able to change anything and got stuck with a couple odd times to eat (4:45 dinners, nothing available at 50s PT until like 8:50 a month in advance) so dining plan has obviously affected availability.
If you made it this far it might have taken you less time to GO to WDW for the week! Id be happy to answer any questions if there are even possibly any left to be asked!
Glad to hear you had a wonderful time and experienced good service on the dining plan.
? Was that included in your $350 estimate? Did your dd dress up for the Princess meals?
