To run it down:
Counter Service:
Roaring Forks at Wilderness Lodge: small and crowded, okay for once or twice, gets old after that............good kid meal option with an uncrustable pbandj, carrots and applesauce.........great huge brownies and cookies, kids liked the mickey rice krispie treats.................soup is an attractive option, but very thick.............one of the few places my chili-dog crazy son could get his fix............................
Pecos Bill's.........sat outside on the Adventureland side...........food was good, burgers..........greatly enhanced by getting McD fries from a kiosk across the street...able to buy a hot dog and a bowl of chili for my son's chili dog here
China in Epcot..........forgot the name of the place..............beef fried rice not as good as we get at home.........orange chicken okay when I wiped off most of the sauce, they put way too much...........fruity slushy drinks rather tasteless, dh liked his peanut chicken.
Buffets:
Boma: Fantastic. Fantastic atmosphere, fantastic server, fantastic food, fantastic chefs, who were very friendly and loved to explain their dishes..........we loved the potatoes with Afritude, the prime rib roast beef, the fufu, the raisin/carrot relish, the fresh fruit, and the desserts.............the mint oreo cookie cheesecake was wonderful.....the zebra domes were one of the most incredible desserts I've ever eaten.... and there was a chocolate dessert that was made with very dark chocolate....a very sophisticated taste. This was one of the top places we ate...........in fact, a big factor in our decision to stay at this resort next trip. Got to see the animals both before and after eating..........and also looked around the resort and the gift shop, truly a beautiful resort.
Chef Mickey's: Did not disappoint. Always delicious and varied, always great character interactions, kids always love it. Always great shopping and monorail rides afterwards...........will continue to do this on our first night, as is our tradition.
Crystal Palace..........great character interaction, good food. We always like this one.
Pre-plated Family Style:
Garden Grill: This was our Candlelight Processional package. Food was good, hot and bland...........like expected, character interaction very good.........long wait here, they did apologize, gave time for me to take younger son to Circle of Life, and then when I got back dh took older son to Living with the Land, we were seated just as they returned. Kids dessert was cute, mud, dirt and worms...........but neither ds liked the taste.......only ate the worms. We had cobbler.
Liberty Tree Tavern: Bread, carrots and gravy were excellent, macaroni and cheese dry and cold, all the meats dry and cold, stuffing excellent and moist, dessert excellent...........character interaction was odd here, rushed when they came by, but came by 5 times during the course of the meal.......fewer rounds and more time each round would've been nicer. Was nice to see Spectromagic as we waited to be seated. Was disappointing as a Christmas dinner, no corn, no sweet potatoes, no green beans, no cranberries or even cranberry jelly, no pecan pie.................didn't know I'd miss them so much until they weren't there.
PSB: Breakfast...............great food, hot and plentiful...........server very nice, princesses wonderful, took a lot of time with the children.........we liked it better than CRT. Also, nice location to look around in afterwards. Very nice people in NOrway, there...........met a homesick young CM named Petter or Pietter.........was missing Christmas at home.
Whispering Canyon Cafe: good food, had a club sandwich, very good, and dh had ribs, excellent. Took three tries for them to bring the right food to ds age 2: he ordered a hot dog..............first they brought pbandj, then brought mac and cheese, before finally finding his hot dog.
Full Service:
Le Cellier: added because of this forum. Thanks so much! Really fantastic meal. The best we had all trip. Fabulous steaks, fabulous potatoes: dh had roasted yukon and I had cream cheese mashed, great pretzel bread, and absolutely delicious cheddar cheese soup.......has a bit of a kick, fabulous. DS had chocolate moose for dessert........so adorable, looks like a little moose! I had the cobbler, really, really good. Also, the most expensive we had this trip, but well worth it.
Coral Reef: Seated on the third tier.............be sure to ask for a seat right next to the tank in this restaurant........it's much better for the kids to see. Server was very nice, brought the kids drinks with cute little dolphin rim-hangers, but ds 2 wasn't ready for a glass in a restaurant, so we had to ask him to bring a kids' cup............he did quickly and presented it just as prettily. DH and I both had the Divers Special with lobster soup, catch of the day (broiled trout), salad and dessert. The soup was fantastic..........and ds 2 loved it too (he also loved the Le Cellier soup). The fish was wonderful, I didn't care for the salad.........had some very bitter greens. For dessert, I had a wonderful chocolate truffle cake, and the kids had life preservers.........very cute granola sand, blue jello, and gummy fish. They loved it. We really liked this restaurant. Got to tour Living Seas afterwards and see Crush.
Mama Melrose: This was our Fantasmic package. The server was wonderful explaining how the package works, where the entrance was, and all about Fantasmic..........which we'd seen before, but wanted to hear about it anyway. We had the same salad, it seemed, as at Coral Reef.........I didn't like it, dh did. I had the chicken parmigiana........ds had the shell noodles with four cheese sauce..............dh had lasagna..........ds age 2 a pbandj I think......................the entrees were excellent, and I don't like Italian food, as a rule. For dessert, dh had tiramisu which he said was excellent. I can't remember my dessert here, I am almost thinking this one was the truffle cake and maybe we had cobbler at Coral Reef? I forget. It was very good, though, but I do think I had read somewhere about this restaurant being quiet? It definitely was NOT quiet. It was extremely busy, crowded and loud. We liked it very much.
We will definitely do Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, PSB, Le Cellier, Coral Reef and Boma again, and possibly Mama Melrose's.
We won't be going out of our way for LTT, WCC, GG again.
Of the counter services, we'll likely do Pecos Bill's again, and look for other options.
I think we like buffets better than family style, as there are many more choices for a varied plate, more veggies, and usually hotter and seemingly fresher food.
Counter Service:
Roaring Forks at Wilderness Lodge: small and crowded, okay for once or twice, gets old after that............good kid meal option with an uncrustable pbandj, carrots and applesauce.........great huge brownies and cookies, kids liked the mickey rice krispie treats.................soup is an attractive option, but very thick.............one of the few places my chili-dog crazy son could get his fix............................
Pecos Bill's.........sat outside on the Adventureland side...........food was good, burgers..........greatly enhanced by getting McD fries from a kiosk across the street...able to buy a hot dog and a bowl of chili for my son's chili dog here
China in Epcot..........forgot the name of the place..............beef fried rice not as good as we get at home.........orange chicken okay when I wiped off most of the sauce, they put way too much...........fruity slushy drinks rather tasteless, dh liked his peanut chicken.
Buffets:
Boma: Fantastic. Fantastic atmosphere, fantastic server, fantastic food, fantastic chefs, who were very friendly and loved to explain their dishes..........we loved the potatoes with Afritude, the prime rib roast beef, the fufu, the raisin/carrot relish, the fresh fruit, and the desserts.............the mint oreo cookie cheesecake was wonderful.....the zebra domes were one of the most incredible desserts I've ever eaten.... and there was a chocolate dessert that was made with very dark chocolate....a very sophisticated taste. This was one of the top places we ate...........in fact, a big factor in our decision to stay at this resort next trip. Got to see the animals both before and after eating..........and also looked around the resort and the gift shop, truly a beautiful resort.
Chef Mickey's: Did not disappoint. Always delicious and varied, always great character interactions, kids always love it. Always great shopping and monorail rides afterwards...........will continue to do this on our first night, as is our tradition.
Crystal Palace..........great character interaction, good food. We always like this one.
Pre-plated Family Style:
Garden Grill: This was our Candlelight Processional package. Food was good, hot and bland...........like expected, character interaction very good.........long wait here, they did apologize, gave time for me to take younger son to Circle of Life, and then when I got back dh took older son to Living with the Land, we were seated just as they returned. Kids dessert was cute, mud, dirt and worms...........but neither ds liked the taste.......only ate the worms. We had cobbler.
Liberty Tree Tavern: Bread, carrots and gravy were excellent, macaroni and cheese dry and cold, all the meats dry and cold, stuffing excellent and moist, dessert excellent...........character interaction was odd here, rushed when they came by, but came by 5 times during the course of the meal.......fewer rounds and more time each round would've been nicer. Was nice to see Spectromagic as we waited to be seated. Was disappointing as a Christmas dinner, no corn, no sweet potatoes, no green beans, no cranberries or even cranberry jelly, no pecan pie.................didn't know I'd miss them so much until they weren't there.
PSB: Breakfast...............great food, hot and plentiful...........server very nice, princesses wonderful, took a lot of time with the children.........we liked it better than CRT. Also, nice location to look around in afterwards. Very nice people in NOrway, there...........met a homesick young CM named Petter or Pietter.........was missing Christmas at home.
Whispering Canyon Cafe: good food, had a club sandwich, very good, and dh had ribs, excellent. Took three tries for them to bring the right food to ds age 2: he ordered a hot dog..............first they brought pbandj, then brought mac and cheese, before finally finding his hot dog.
Full Service:
Le Cellier: added because of this forum. Thanks so much! Really fantastic meal. The best we had all trip. Fabulous steaks, fabulous potatoes: dh had roasted yukon and I had cream cheese mashed, great pretzel bread, and absolutely delicious cheddar cheese soup.......has a bit of a kick, fabulous. DS had chocolate moose for dessert........so adorable, looks like a little moose! I had the cobbler, really, really good. Also, the most expensive we had this trip, but well worth it.
Coral Reef: Seated on the third tier.............be sure to ask for a seat right next to the tank in this restaurant........it's much better for the kids to see. Server was very nice, brought the kids drinks with cute little dolphin rim-hangers, but ds 2 wasn't ready for a glass in a restaurant, so we had to ask him to bring a kids' cup............he did quickly and presented it just as prettily. DH and I both had the Divers Special with lobster soup, catch of the day (broiled trout), salad and dessert. The soup was fantastic..........and ds 2 loved it too (he also loved the Le Cellier soup). The fish was wonderful, I didn't care for the salad.........had some very bitter greens. For dessert, I had a wonderful chocolate truffle cake, and the kids had life preservers.........very cute granola sand, blue jello, and gummy fish. They loved it. We really liked this restaurant. Got to tour Living Seas afterwards and see Crush.
Mama Melrose: This was our Fantasmic package. The server was wonderful explaining how the package works, where the entrance was, and all about Fantasmic..........which we'd seen before, but wanted to hear about it anyway. We had the same salad, it seemed, as at Coral Reef.........I didn't like it, dh did. I had the chicken parmigiana........ds had the shell noodles with four cheese sauce..............dh had lasagna..........ds age 2 a pbandj I think......................the entrees were excellent, and I don't like Italian food, as a rule. For dessert, dh had tiramisu which he said was excellent. I can't remember my dessert here, I am almost thinking this one was the truffle cake and maybe we had cobbler at Coral Reef? I forget. It was very good, though, but I do think I had read somewhere about this restaurant being quiet? It definitely was NOT quiet. It was extremely busy, crowded and loud. We liked it very much.
We will definitely do Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, PSB, Le Cellier, Coral Reef and Boma again, and possibly Mama Melrose's.
We won't be going out of our way for LTT, WCC, GG again.
Of the counter services, we'll likely do Pecos Bill's again, and look for other options.
I think we like buffets better than family style, as there are many more choices for a varied plate, more veggies, and usually hotter and seemingly fresher food.
