My no sugar-coated, dining around the world with 4 children review - UPDATED 12/21

[tfoster]

Just got back from a Dec 10 - Dec 15 trip and thought I'd share our dining experiences. Sorry, no pics - my family already thinks I'm silly enough without my taking pictures of our food!

A few quick general notes -
We had some great food and a couple of big surprises too (I NEVER imagined AK's Picnic in the Park would have easily been our worst meal!).
Wait times to being seated were minimal for all of our sit-down meals. I think the longest wait was 10 minutes at 'Ohana breakfast.
Themes were all great, and I really appreciate the thought that goes into the dining themes at Disney.
The most frustrating part about the sit-down meals was hands-down waiting to be checked out - how can it take SOOOO long?!

Places we ate at:
Meadows Snack Bar
Coral Reef dinner
'Ohana breakfast
AK's Picnic in the Park
Cape May Cafe breakfast
Boulangerie Patisserie
Tutto Italia dinner
Crystal Palace
Columbia Harbor House
Grand Floridian Cafe dinner
Starring Roles Cafe
Sci-Fi
Trail's End Trails To Go
Main Street Bakery breakfast
Main Street Bakery lunch

Thursday, Dec 10
Meadows Snack Bar (at Fort Wilderness) for late lunch
me: turkey ciabatta sandwich with homemade chips and cheesecake - all delicious and I'd highly recommend
DH: pulled pork with homemade chips and nachos with cheese (that counted as his dessert on the DDP) - he said it was very good
DS(14): tuna salad sandwich with homemade chips and Doritos (that counted as his dessert) - sandwich was huge, messy, and delicious
DD(9): cheese pizza with cookie - she's fussy and ate it all, so it must have been good!
DS(6) and DS(4): shared a ham and turkey sandwich with apple slices and a cookie - very good and they cleaned the plate
Note there isn't a kid's menu listed on allears, but they do have one posted at the snack bar.
Conclusion: If we stay at the FW Cabins again, we'd look forward to eating here again.

Coral Reef at Epcot for dinner
ADR was for 6:25. We arrived about 10 minutes early and were seated in about 5 minutes. We had a table in the front row of the second tier with a great view of the aquarium. I don't know if I would have been very happy with a table in the back row (there are two rows on each tier) because I don't think the kids would have been able to see very well. The aquarium was wonderful, but my kids weren't quite as excited about it as I had anticipated. Our server was super sweet and very attentive from start to finish.
Me: NY Strip Steak and Chocolate Wave for dessert - The steak was average to good, pretty tasty but certainly not great (though I'm used to ordering Filet Mignon if it's on the menu). The vegetables were perfectly steamed and delicious. I think the Chocolate Wave is overrated and wish I had ordered something else. It was good, but no better than the chocolate lava cakes we can buy here in the frozen section of our local grocery store.
DH: Mahi Mahi and Bailey's and Jack Daniel Mousse for dessert - He said the fish was good but he didn't love the rice. He LOVED the mousse (as did seemingly everyone else around us who was practically licking the dish clean!).
DS(14): Meaty macaroni, lobster bisque, and ice cream sundae from the kid's menu - Not terrible, but not very good either. Personally, I thought the meaty macaroni looked nasty.
DD(9): Grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli along with an ice cream sundae - Everyone agreed she had hit the jackpot and had the dish of the evening. She declared it delicious and we were all envious!
DS(6): Same as DS(14). He didn't eat much of his food at all.
DS(4): Cheese pizza with veggies, ice cream sundae for dessert - He ate just a few bites. I tried the pizza and it tasted like a standard frozen pizza - okay but certainly not great.
Conclusion: Overall, we enjoyed the experience but the food was pretty average. We'd be fine with going back, but it's not at the top of our list.

 

[tfoster]

Friday, December 11

'Ohana character breakfast
Our ADR was for 9:15, but we ended up leaving our cabin a little late and transportation (internal bus, boat to Contemporary, and monorail to Polynesian) took even longer than we expected. We arrived about 20 minutes late, but were seated within 10 minutes of checking in.

We had the food listed on the web - bread basket, passion juice blend, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, Mickey waffles, roasted potatoes, and fruit plates - served family style. DH got coffee and I got hot chocolate. Every single food item was fresh and delicious - REALLY delicious. We got seconds on the bread basket, waffles, and biscuits.

The character interaction was good but not as great as I've read about in other reviews for this breakfast. They came by and it didn't feel particularly rushed but they didn't spend any extra moments with the children either.

Our server was very sweet but she was zooming all around and looked slightly frazzled. We'd have delays in our service, but we didn't mind too much because they weren't long, she was apologetic, and she was just very nice about everything. (I was also still so happy we were able to get a table after arriving so late!)

The parade was fun (but a little shorter than I had expected). My youngest was the only one from our family who participated and he had a ball. The rest of us had a ball watching him shake his maraca and dance around the restaurant.

Conclusion: Everyone loved the food here as well as the atmosphere. We'd love to do it again.

Sidenote: We had a VERY long wait for a bus to AK after this breakfast. People also seemed to be waiting forever to get to DHS and they were not happy. Two DHS buses finally came and they were both absolutely packed in. Then our AK bus came and we were packed in like sardines, with plenty of people left behind.

Animal Kingdom's Picnic In the Park
I'm going to get it right out there - this was our worst meal of the trip. It was brought up several times that day and even the next. I was really looking forward to this and was tremendously disappointed. It actually soured our entire AK experience.

Upon arriving, I ordered our food - Tier 2 meal for five. I should have known it wasn't going to go well. The menu listed on allears didn't match the one I was given to order from. I couldn't order for sides chips, corn medley, or a couple other things (I can't remember exactly which others - I should have written it down!). I couldn't order cornbread for dessert. Fine. We adjusted easily enough. We just went with mac & cheese, fruit salad, green beans, and mashed potatoes for sides and cookies, brownies, and an orange for dessert. (By the way, ham wasn't available as the main dish either, just chicken.)

Pick-up time was 3 PM at the Kusafiri Bakery. We waited in line for 30 minutes!! When we finally got up to the window, they instructed us to sit down and wait while they got our food ready. I was exasperated and asked how long they thought it would be, that we had already waited in line 30 minutes. He told me we didn't have to wait in line, that we could have gone right up to the window. I said (nicely) "so I should have known to just budge to the front of the line in front of everyone else?". He said that they actually have two lines, one for the Picnic in the Park and one for the bakery. I don't know how I was supposed to just know that given one small window and one gentleman working and one long line, there were really two lines and I was supposed to be in the other (non-existent) one. I'm guessing part of the problem may have been that we had the latest pick-up time of the day and maybe if we had gone earlier we would have seen and followed the lead of other more experienced guests picking up their food??? Anyway, they need to communicate the system better. I think I should have either been given clearer directions when I ordered (i.e. just go straight up to the window even if there's a line for the bakery) or instead of just having a "Picnic in the Park Pick-Up" sign they should have a sign with more directions (like "form line to the left" or something, anything).

Now on to the food. It had been ~40 minutes since we went to pick up our food and we were all pretty hungry. Unfortunately, the food didn't make up for the wait. The chicken was too greasy to eat on those little, flimsy paper plates. My "I love any and all mac & cheese" DS(14) thought the mac & cheese was awful and wouldn't eat it. The mashed potatoes were pretty good but not great. Oddly enough, the green beans were declared by my children to be the best part of the meal. And of course, for some odd reason, they give you mini bottles of water rather than standard size ones. That I knew and expected, but it just added to the pain at the time. Most of the food ended up in the garbage.

Conclusion: Great idea, poor execution. Unanimously determined to be the worst meal we had at Disney for several different reasons - the process of getting it, the food itself, and trying to eat such messy food on the plates you're provided. If we were to try this again, it would definitely NOT be Tier 2. We'd go simple with Tier 1 sandwiches, chips, and fruit.

 

[msce2]

Wow, the picnic in the park sounded like anything but. I'm sorry you had to wait so long and then the food wasn't good. We thought about doing this in May, and now I'm really glad we didn't. They should definitely have signs designating the different lines.

 

[KatMark]

Great start to the reviews.

 

[tfoster]

Saturday, December 12

Cape May Cafe breakfast
We had a 7:55 AM ADR. That is very early for us and I kept trying to get a later one but couldn't. We ended up with this one the same way we ended up with the 'Ohana breakfast. When we rearranged our days, we lost our Donald's Safari Breakfast and kept trying to get a new one. Cape May popped up one day as an alternative so I took it (to get our Donald meal in for DS(6)!). My family complained about the time but we made it as easy as possible by the night before arranging for a van taxi so we wouldn't have to leave as early as we would if using Disney transportation. The taxi picked us up at 7:35 AM and we arrived at ~7:50 AM. We enjoyed the enormous Christmas carousal, checked in at Cape May, and then got a table very quickly. The restaurant wasn't crowded and everything looked lovely.

We went up and got our first plates of food. There were tons of options and everything was fresh and delicious. Within 20 minutes, Donald, Minnie, and Goofy had all come to our table. They didn't feel particularly rushed but didn't spend a lot of time with us either. The kids also kept busy coloring the Donald pictures they had been given. We all got seconds on food and then all of the characters came around again. The second time around, they spent more time with the kids. Minnie gently nudged DS(4) over and sat on his chair with him. He looked so mesmorized, and it was really cute. On each of her visits, she kissed him and he talked for hours about how Minnie had kissed him twice. When DS(6) was focused on coloring, Goofy was propping himself up on DS's head and was, well, goofy.

We had a wonderful server who always stayed close enough to notice what we needed but not so close to make us feel like he was hovering.

We stayed about an hour and when we left there was significantly more activity at the podium area. We then took a nice boat ride over to Epcot.

Conclusion: We all agreed this was the best sit-down meal of the trip. Everything was perfect - the food, the character interactions, the service, the restaurant itself. It was well worth getting up and out early for and everyone is very excited to go back.


Boulangerie Patisserie for light lunch and bakery snacks
We stopped by around noonish. There was a line out the door but it moved pretty quickly. I had been looking forward to going here for a couple of months and it didn't disappoint! We ended up getting a ham and cheese baguette sandwich, cheese plate with baguette, chocolate mousse, cream puff, chocolate croissant, and chocolate eclair. We shared everything and everyone was very satisfied! DH and I honeymooned in Paris, and I really did feel like I was back there.

The only issue here was that it was very confusing to be checked out. I felt badly for the people behind us because it took a loooong time for the girl checking us out to figure out how to do it on the dining plan. We ended up being charged 2 QS and 2 snacks, but she processed each one individually and it took a while. Well worth the wait on our part; I just felt badly for her and the others waiting behind us.

Conclusion: We loved our visit here and will definitely return. Everything was DELICIOUS!


Tutto Italia for dinner
We had an ADR for 3:35. On our original schedule, I had a later one, but when we rearranged our days, this was the latest ADR we could get so we decided it would be a really early dinner. This was definitely the strangest check-in we had during our trip. I got in line to check us in at ~3:20 or so. There were a few people in the lobby and check-in seemed to take longer than it needed to. I was told we'd be called soon. Even though most of the restaurant looked empty, the crowd in the lobby just kept growing and growing until it was totally full. I started feeling like we were a herd of cattle. Then the manager started going through slips of paper and calling out names. I was confused because he did that until the lobby was almost empty but we still hadn't been called. I inquired and was told that they were calling all the candlelight processional people in because they were under a time constraint. I was a bit annoyed and confused - I don't understand why we were able to make an ADR for 3:35 if it wasn't going to end up mattering when we checked in, if all the early CP folks were going to get seated before us regardless of whether or not they arrived before us. And I don't understand why they filled up the lobby like that and seated everyone all at once instead of seating people as they arrived. It was an unpleasant and slightly chaotic waiting experience.

Moving on to the food.
We got three kids' fried mozzarella appetizers and we all shared them. I thought they were good, but it's a good thing I like bland food because they were the most bland cheese sticks (balls, really) I've ever had. Even one of my kids said you need to eat them with the marinara sauce (which we typically don't do at home) to get some flavor. The bread basket selection was good and enjoyed very much as were the olive, etc. plates. It was cute because one of the servers showed the kids how to use the bread with the dish of olive oil.

Main courses:
Me - the lasagna. Now I am a lasagna kind-of girl, but I didn't care for it very much. There was very, very little cheese in it, and the cheese is what I love the most about lasagna. It seemed to be many layers of pasta and meat with just a small layer of cheese on the very top. Maybe that's how they make it in Italy; it's just very different than I've ever had. There was also something about the flavor of the meat I didn't love. This is going to sound much worse than I mean it to, but I couldn't help but think of canned dog food. I didn't even eat half of it. I had the chocolate and hazelnut torte for dessert - YUM!!!
DH - black squid linguine dish. It was okay, but he was a bit disappointed with it and wouldn't order it again. He had chocolate gelato for dessert and loved it.
DS(14) - oven roasted chicken dish. He liked it and cleaned his plate. Vanilla gelato for dessert and loved it.
DD(9) and DS(6) - each one got spaghetti and meatballs with a gelato sundae for dessert. They both enjoyed their food. My DD's dessert order was messed up. She asked for a chocolate gelato sundae and got something we couldn't quite identify (it was pretty much some sort of liquid) but it was corrected very quickly.
DS(4) - poor guy picked the kids' chicken breast meal but as soon as the food was brought to the table, he looked at the spaghetti and meatball dishes and said "Oops. I meant to say spaghetti and meatballs." It was fine though. He and DS(6) just ended up sharing their meals, which worked out well. The chicken dish was enjoyed by both of them. DD(4) also had a gelato sundae which he thought was yummy.

I referred earlier to "one of the servers" because while we seemed to have one particular individual assigned to us, we ended up having at least three or four individuals come to our table at one point or another during our meal. I liked it because they worked well together and all of our needs were met in a timely, pleasant fashion. I also kind-of like the whole "working together and helping each other" approach.

A note about the restaurant - when we were first led to our table, I was a little disappointed because we weren't in the main dining area. We were brought into a small room off the side and I was worried we'd be forgotten. That proved to not be the case at all, and I ended up being very happy with where we were. It was very quiet in there, and when I brought DS(4) to the restroom I was struck by the contrast when walking through the main dining area. It seemed so much louder than where we were.

Conclusion: This is a tough one for me. Parts of this experience I really enjoyed, but other parts I didn't. I REALLY didn't like how the pre-dinner wait went. I'd be happy to go back and try something else off the menu, but DH thinks there are too many other places to eat at Epcot to go back here. I also can't help but wonder if both my and DH's not being happy with our meals is a coincidence or if we'd feel the same about their other dishes as well.