Hey guys, we just got back last night from our 10 day stay. It was our first time on the dining plan (free or not) and we enjoyed it. I have two complaints about the plan. The variety for kids is almost non existant...my kids ate chicken nuggets almost every meal for CS and there was a difference in the plan from the resort to the parks. At the poly, the kids got the entree, two sides, drink and a cookie for dessert. At the parks, the kids got the entree, one side, drink and dessert. Even though the menu states pick two sides with the kids meal the CMs consider their dessert a side I guess. Other than that, we enjoyed the plan.
Arrival Day - Pecos Bill's CS - food was good, nothing special just good...lol
Polynesian Luau - We didn't use any credits for this as the seating was better if you paid for it. We've been several times and we enjoy it each time we go. Many of the dancers are the same from 4 years ago! The food was good...man that dessert is awesome!! Our server was not very good, not rude but not friendly either. I know it's an outdoor area so there's nothing really they can do about it, but the lizards seemed to be out in full force or something. I almost crapped myself when one crawled across my foot while I was eating!!! I kept my legs up on my chair the rest of the meal...lol.
Day 2 - CS in the land. I liked the variety. My DD and I got chinese and my mother got the chicken salad my other DD got Mac and cheese.
Planet Hollywood - NOT good. Disappointed that they had the outside covered with tarps for construction, has to be done sometime I guess. We were seated pretty quickly, which was great. My kids liked walking up the "red carpet" side if you have an ADR. Our waitress was non existant most of the meal. The food was good, I liked the choices, but it took over an hour for us to get our meal (the kids are getting pretty cranky by this time). I asked how much longer and the waitress (once I tracked her down) told me that it was taking so long because I ordered my steak medium well. Hmm...funny because when they brought it mine was medium and my mother's was rare!! We didn't have time to send them back because we had to be at Cirque du Soliel (sp?). A manager came over and credited us one adult meal and gave the girls free tee shirts. We went down to the gift area to get our free tee shirts and they were very rude about it.
Day 3 - I think we had CS at the Poly. This is where I noticed the difference in kids meals.
Liberty Tree Tavern - Not great. We waited an hour past our ADR to be seated. When we were seated the table, floor, and silverware was dirty. I would be embarrassed to sit a guest at this table. It wouldn't be acceptable at our local diner. Once we got that taken care of, the characters were good. Goofy was the best. Minnie was kinda just there. The food was excellent. Our server was not rude, but not friendly. Another problem occurred when they charged the meal to our room CC instead of the dining plan. We clearly stated at check in it was the dining plan and I guess the server messed it up. It took another hour to get it corrected.
Day 4 - Breakfast at 1900 park fare. It was good, service was prompt, restaurant clean. Nothing much more to say about that.
Day 5 - Princess Breakfast in Norway. We always enjoy this meal. Good variety of princesses for the girls. Our waiter was nice. The girls got a kick out of his name and he was nice about it. His name was Knut and the girls kept giggling about it calling him "K - Nut" He got a kick out of it. The best princess was Mulan. After she came to the table and signed the books, my DD (6) started crying because she dropped her ink pen and it hit Mulan's shoe so she was afraid that she left a mark on Mulan's shoe. God love her she was really upset about it. Mulan noticed and came back and asked why she was crying. Emily apologized about it over and over again. Mulan spent time at the table reassuring her that she didn't leave a mark on her shoe and showed her the shoes and everything. A little while later, we were in China and Mulan was there with Mushu, the girls wanted to see Mushu and it must have been the same Mulan because she remembered the ink pen/shoe incident from earlier and hugged Emily and spent time talking to her making sure she was okay with the incident.
Day 6 - Chef Mickey's - we love this dinner. I thought the prime rib was a little dry this time, but the ham was excellent. We did have a problem with the family next to us. Their DD was afraid of the characters so they moved her highchair in between our tables so she wouldn't be on the end near the characters...well, they went on with their meal and not watching their DD so she kept reaching over and pulling stuff off our table and throwing food at us. I don't blame the little kid..I blame the parents for that one. The server finally noticed the problem when the little girl reached over and grabbed my plate and almost dumped it on the floor. The server asked the family to move the child to another area of the table. The family wasn't happy about it, but come on..that was over the top.
Day 7 - O'hana - We were seated promptly, but our table was in an area of the restaurant that my children wouldn't be able to enjoy the activities, so I asked if we could be moved. They understood and found us a table right away. Luck had it..we were seated with a perfect view of the fireworks. That was a wonderful experience. We had not been able to experience watching the MK fireworks while eating before. The food was good. I have to say that the assistant server was much better than the main server. He worked his butt off while she did hardly anything. That man deserves a promotion. We only got one serving of meat though...seems like that has happened to us the last two times we've been there. Maybe they're trying to tell us something...lol.
Day 8 - Cinderella's Royal Table - Disappointing. I guess we expected character interaction, not a small show from the fairy godmother. Our waiter was not very good and they will absolutely NOT let you make any substitutions. It was either one side of the menu or the other for the kids. Well my girls went away hungry because they didn't like any of the choices they were giving them. The food was okay. I just didn't care for the offerings, it was cooked and presented well...just didn't care for it. We enjoyed breakfast here in a previous trip much better.
Day 9 - LeCellier - Wow, Wow, Wow...our first visit here and boy...it was fantastic!! Our server was excellent!! She allowed the kids to mix and match their choices unlike the CRT. My mother and I both got steaks, she got the prime rib and I got the fillet. You could cut them with a butter knife. The desserts were incredible. I got the chocolate cake and she got the creme brulee. Our service was so good that I left her an extra tip on top of the included one on the dining plan. She was so nice, my older DD got the apples for appetizer and she didn't like the brown sugar on them after they were served, the server brought her plain ones. My DD also got the pasta with sauce and I told her that she didn't like sauce (at home she NEVER eats sauce on her pasta) but she wanted the sauce..well guess what...she didn't like it..imagine that. The server took her plate right away and brought her plain buttered noodles. The family sitting next to us was very nice as well.
We also threw in a last minute Ohana breakfast which was surprising that we could get in walk up. I don't remember the day though....lol...It took forever for Stitch to get to the table, but he was up to his antics so that's why it took so long. My girls got a kick out of him. He stole their autograph books and they had to chase him down to get them back so he took their chairs and turned them upside down...lol.
Okay...whew...that's it...lots of food. Good experiences. We've booked the bounceback offer for next year...lol.
Arrival Day - Pecos Bill's CS - food was good, nothing special just good...lol
Polynesian Luau - We didn't use any credits for this as the seating was better if you paid for it. We've been several times and we enjoy it each time we go. Many of the dancers are the same from 4 years ago! The food was good...man that dessert is awesome!! Our server was not very good, not rude but not friendly either. I know it's an outdoor area so there's nothing really they can do about it, but the lizards seemed to be out in full force or something. I almost crapped myself when one crawled across my foot while I was eating!!! I kept my legs up on my chair the rest of the meal...lol.
Day 2 - CS in the land. I liked the variety. My DD and I got chinese and my mother got the chicken salad my other DD got Mac and cheese.
Planet Hollywood - NOT good. Disappointed that they had the outside covered with tarps for construction, has to be done sometime I guess. We were seated pretty quickly, which was great. My kids liked walking up the "red carpet" side if you have an ADR. Our waitress was non existant most of the meal. The food was good, I liked the choices, but it took over an hour for us to get our meal (the kids are getting pretty cranky by this time). I asked how much longer and the waitress (once I tracked her down) told me that it was taking so long because I ordered my steak medium well. Hmm...funny because when they brought it mine was medium and my mother's was rare!! We didn't have time to send them back because we had to be at Cirque du Soliel (sp?). A manager came over and credited us one adult meal and gave the girls free tee shirts. We went down to the gift area to get our free tee shirts and they were very rude about it.
Day 3 - I think we had CS at the Poly. This is where I noticed the difference in kids meals.
Liberty Tree Tavern - Not great. We waited an hour past our ADR to be seated. When we were seated the table, floor, and silverware was dirty. I would be embarrassed to sit a guest at this table. It wouldn't be acceptable at our local diner. Once we got that taken care of, the characters were good. Goofy was the best. Minnie was kinda just there. The food was excellent. Our server was not rude, but not friendly. Another problem occurred when they charged the meal to our room CC instead of the dining plan. We clearly stated at check in it was the dining plan and I guess the server messed it up. It took another hour to get it corrected.
Day 4 - Breakfast at 1900 park fare. It was good, service was prompt, restaurant clean. Nothing much more to say about that.
Day 5 - Princess Breakfast in Norway. We always enjoy this meal. Good variety of princesses for the girls. Our waiter was nice. The girls got a kick out of his name and he was nice about it. His name was Knut and the girls kept giggling about it calling him "K - Nut" He got a kick out of it. The best princess was Mulan. After she came to the table and signed the books, my DD (6) started crying because she dropped her ink pen and it hit Mulan's shoe so she was afraid that she left a mark on Mulan's shoe. God love her she was really upset about it. Mulan noticed and came back and asked why she was crying. Emily apologized about it over and over again. Mulan spent time at the table reassuring her that she didn't leave a mark on her shoe and showed her the shoes and everything. A little while later, we were in China and Mulan was there with Mushu, the girls wanted to see Mushu and it must have been the same Mulan because she remembered the ink pen/shoe incident from earlier and hugged Emily and spent time talking to her making sure she was okay with the incident.
Day 6 - Chef Mickey's - we love this dinner. I thought the prime rib was a little dry this time, but the ham was excellent. We did have a problem with the family next to us. Their DD was afraid of the characters so they moved her highchair in between our tables so she wouldn't be on the end near the characters...well, they went on with their meal and not watching their DD so she kept reaching over and pulling stuff off our table and throwing food at us. I don't blame the little kid..I blame the parents for that one. The server finally noticed the problem when the little girl reached over and grabbed my plate and almost dumped it on the floor. The server asked the family to move the child to another area of the table. The family wasn't happy about it, but come on..that was over the top.
Day 7 - O'hana - We were seated promptly, but our table was in an area of the restaurant that my children wouldn't be able to enjoy the activities, so I asked if we could be moved. They understood and found us a table right away. Luck had it..we were seated with a perfect view of the fireworks. That was a wonderful experience. We had not been able to experience watching the MK fireworks while eating before. The food was good. I have to say that the assistant server was much better than the main server. He worked his butt off while she did hardly anything. That man deserves a promotion. We only got one serving of meat though...seems like that has happened to us the last two times we've been there. Maybe they're trying to tell us something...lol.
Day 8 - Cinderella's Royal Table - Disappointing. I guess we expected character interaction, not a small show from the fairy godmother. Our waiter was not very good and they will absolutely NOT let you make any substitutions. It was either one side of the menu or the other for the kids. Well my girls went away hungry because they didn't like any of the choices they were giving them. The food was okay. I just didn't care for the offerings, it was cooked and presented well...just didn't care for it. We enjoyed breakfast here in a previous trip much better.
Day 9 - LeCellier - Wow, Wow, Wow...our first visit here and boy...it was fantastic!! Our server was excellent!! She allowed the kids to mix and match their choices unlike the CRT. My mother and I both got steaks, she got the prime rib and I got the fillet. You could cut them with a butter knife. The desserts were incredible. I got the chocolate cake and she got the creme brulee. Our service was so good that I left her an extra tip on top of the included one on the dining plan. She was so nice, my older DD got the apples for appetizer and she didn't like the brown sugar on them after they were served, the server brought her plain ones. My DD also got the pasta with sauce and I told her that she didn't like sauce (at home she NEVER eats sauce on her pasta) but she wanted the sauce..well guess what...she didn't like it..imagine that. The server took her plate right away and brought her plain buttered noodles. The family sitting next to us was very nice as well.
We also threw in a last minute Ohana breakfast which was surprising that we could get in walk up. I don't remember the day though....lol...It took forever for Stitch to get to the table, but he was up to his antics so that's why it took so long. My girls got a kick out of him. He stole their autograph books and they had to chase him down to get them back so he took their chairs and turned them upside down...lol.
Okay...whew...that's it...lots of food. Good experiences. We've booked the bounceback offer for next year...lol.