catne
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2008
- Messages
- 8,420
So we arrive at our final meal at Disney...since we were treating our Son & his friend to probably a once-in-a-lifetime kind of Disney trip, we splurged on our last day with dinner at the Castle, followed by the Halloween Party. Have to say this was a wonderful way to end our trip. We had early dinner booked at CRT, since we wanted to be done & ready to PARTY well before 7. We checked in at CRT at 4:00 for a 4:15 ADR . There was only a couple of other people waiting, and we were called to meet Cinderella almost immediately. We were actually upstairs & seated by 4:15. And the place was at least 1/2 empty. I was very surprised - really thought more people would be taking advantage of the the early seatings to be done before the party started...guess not. It was full by the time we left around 5:45 or so.
Anyway, here's a pic of the cute Fall pumpkin coach centerpiece at CRT.
Our waiter, Fernando, came and took our drink orders, explained the menu and delivered a basket of dinner rolls:
CRT dinner is one of the fixed-price meals that comes with an appetizer, so we all ordered. Son's Friend ordered the Spring roll appetizer. She enjoyed this, but did think it could have been a bit hotter.
DH, DS and myself all ordered the BLT Salad. This is a very good salad -- if it was just a tad larger it could almost be an entree. There's a lot of real bacon on this - not your crummy fake bac-o's, lol.
DS ordered the salmon, which came with aspargus and rice. Although not the "best" salmon ever, he thought this was tasty. The rice was kind of plain tasting, despite the colorful veggies in it.
DH & I ordered the prime rib, rare...and actually got it that way (so many places can't get you rare prime rib unless it's a very fresh prime rib. Because as the big roast sits under the heat lamps it keeps on cooking & soon the "rare" ain't very rare at all. We must have got pieces off a fresh roast, because as you can see, this is gloriously rare. It was terrific. It came with potatoes, and asparagus. The taters were good, the aspargus, not so much. It was kind of gritty/stringy. That's o.k., we weren't actually eating all the veggies this week, anyway, lol.
DS's Friend chose the lavender chicken, which came with a slice of cheese bread and mashed potatoes. She was intrigued by "lavender" as a flavoring...used to it in floral centerpieces and as a perfumed room freshener, never had it as a food, lol. Whatever the taste, she said the taste was mainly that of the thyme, so she's still not sure what Lavender actually tastes like. The mashed potatoes were good, as was the bread.
For desserts, Friend was quite full, and wanted something lighter, so she chose the fresh berry sorbet, which as you can see is quite a good-sized serving. She enjoyed this - not too sweet and very refreshing.
DH & I both chose the chocolate buckle - we've had this before. I thought it was cute they put Halloween colored Mickey sprinkles on top...didn't know they changed the sprinkles with the seasons. The buckle did not disappoint - ours were very fresh and straight-out-of-the oven warm. YUMMY!
DS chose the creme brulee. He thought the topping was a bit burnt - but otherwise enjoyed the custard and fruit.
When we were about done with our desserts, Fernando brought this out. I noticed there was a flurry of servers delivering these, as well as all the other special desserts like those Cinderella's slippers desserts
And just after all the special desserts arrived on the tables, the Fairy godmother & mouse maids were out, dancing around as Fairy Godmother sang her Celebration song. This is really kind of sweet, and it's over in less than 10 minutes - about right if you're wanting just a teensy-bit of character entertainment.
All in all, we had a great time at dinner. We were not rushed through at all (I'm thinking that only happens during the actual character meals there -- since there's no pressure to get through all the tables I don't think there's quite the need to "turn-over" as fast at dinner.) Our server was excellent, and you can't beat the ambiance - it really is wonderfully well decorated in the castle. Not sure that's how real castles looked back in their day, but it looks like every fabulous castle-in-a-movie looks so for a fairy-tale castle it's wonderful. Son & friend just loved seeing the inside of the castle. The picture with Cinderella was fun, as was the little show with the Fairy Godmother. The food is good -- no, it's not outstanding , but we enjoyed our meals. Now at that cost (we paid cash), it's not something we'd do every trip, but as a special treat for someone, we'd surely go back. Would give CRT an 8.5 or so...the food is probably closer to a 7 -good, but not great. However, location boosts the score!
We had a great time at MNSSHP after dinner...we thought it was well worth the money. It felt a bit odd to be going to a Halloween party in early September, but once you're there it's easy to get into the "spirit" of the holiday, especially after dark. The parade & fireworks are wonderful, as are the special lighting & special effects all over the MK. Great fun, even for a party of 4 adults
Now to sum it up...while we enjoyed Free Dining again, not sure we're going to keep using the dining plan every trip from now on. It's great to have most of it paid in advance & all...but we would also like more flexibility, I think. Sometimes it'd be nice to just totally wing it, snacking our way through the day. And sometimes we'd probably just like to order drinks & several appetizers, maybe splitting a dessert. We might try the quick service plan one of these trips...that has a certain amount of appeal, too. But so far, we only have one trip to Disney planned for 2010 - and that is for Free Dining bounceback. We'll just have to see how that goes.
Got pretty spoiled over the last 2 years...but hubby really wants to try some new places.
Anyway, here's a pic of the cute Fall pumpkin coach centerpiece at CRT.
Our waiter, Fernando, came and took our drink orders, explained the menu and delivered a basket of dinner rolls:
CRT dinner is one of the fixed-price meals that comes with an appetizer, so we all ordered. Son's Friend ordered the Spring roll appetizer. She enjoyed this, but did think it could have been a bit hotter.
DH, DS and myself all ordered the BLT Salad. This is a very good salad -- if it was just a tad larger it could almost be an entree. There's a lot of real bacon on this - not your crummy fake bac-o's, lol.
DS ordered the salmon, which came with aspargus and rice. Although not the "best" salmon ever, he thought this was tasty. The rice was kind of plain tasting, despite the colorful veggies in it.
DH & I ordered the prime rib, rare...and actually got it that way (so many places can't get you rare prime rib unless it's a very fresh prime rib. Because as the big roast sits under the heat lamps it keeps on cooking & soon the "rare" ain't very rare at all. We must have got pieces off a fresh roast, because as you can see, this is gloriously rare. It was terrific. It came with potatoes, and asparagus. The taters were good, the aspargus, not so much. It was kind of gritty/stringy. That's o.k., we weren't actually eating all the veggies this week, anyway, lol.
DS's Friend chose the lavender chicken, which came with a slice of cheese bread and mashed potatoes. She was intrigued by "lavender" as a flavoring...used to it in floral centerpieces and as a perfumed room freshener, never had it as a food, lol. Whatever the taste, she said the taste was mainly that of the thyme, so she's still not sure what Lavender actually tastes like. The mashed potatoes were good, as was the bread.
For desserts, Friend was quite full, and wanted something lighter, so she chose the fresh berry sorbet, which as you can see is quite a good-sized serving. She enjoyed this - not too sweet and very refreshing.
DH & I both chose the chocolate buckle - we've had this before. I thought it was cute they put Halloween colored Mickey sprinkles on top...didn't know they changed the sprinkles with the seasons. The buckle did not disappoint - ours were very fresh and straight-out-of-the oven warm. YUMMY!
DS chose the creme brulee. He thought the topping was a bit burnt - but otherwise enjoyed the custard and fruit.
When we were about done with our desserts, Fernando brought this out. I noticed there was a flurry of servers delivering these, as well as all the other special desserts like those Cinderella's slippers desserts
And just after all the special desserts arrived on the tables, the Fairy godmother & mouse maids were out, dancing around as Fairy Godmother sang her Celebration song. This is really kind of sweet, and it's over in less than 10 minutes - about right if you're wanting just a teensy-bit of character entertainment.
All in all, we had a great time at dinner. We were not rushed through at all (I'm thinking that only happens during the actual character meals there -- since there's no pressure to get through all the tables I don't think there's quite the need to "turn-over" as fast at dinner.) Our server was excellent, and you can't beat the ambiance - it really is wonderfully well decorated in the castle. Not sure that's how real castles looked back in their day, but it looks like every fabulous castle-in-a-movie looks so for a fairy-tale castle it's wonderful. Son & friend just loved seeing the inside of the castle. The picture with Cinderella was fun, as was the little show with the Fairy Godmother. The food is good -- no, it's not outstanding , but we enjoyed our meals. Now at that cost (we paid cash), it's not something we'd do every trip, but as a special treat for someone, we'd surely go back. Would give CRT an 8.5 or so...the food is probably closer to a 7 -good, but not great. However, location boosts the score!
We had a great time at MNSSHP after dinner...we thought it was well worth the money. It felt a bit odd to be going to a Halloween party in early September, but once you're there it's easy to get into the "spirit" of the holiday, especially after dark. The parade & fireworks are wonderful, as are the special lighting & special effects all over the MK. Great fun, even for a party of 4 adults
Now to sum it up...while we enjoyed Free Dining again, not sure we're going to keep using the dining plan every trip from now on. It's great to have most of it paid in advance & all...but we would also like more flexibility, I think. Sometimes it'd be nice to just totally wing it, snacking our way through the day. And sometimes we'd probably just like to order drinks & several appetizers, maybe splitting a dessert. We might try the quick service plan one of these trips...that has a certain amount of appeal, too. But so far, we only have one trip to Disney planned for 2010 - and that is for Free Dining bounceback. We'll just have to see how that goes.
Got pretty spoiled over the last 2 years...but hubby really wants to try some new places.
.
