Our Magical Gathering - 14 days, 16 people - Whooo!

[DisneyMomx7]

First let me explain that our trip was in two parts.

Part I - Magical Gathering - 16 people in all. All our kids, one dil, one sil, 3 grandchildren and my Mom (who celebrated her 80th birthday at Disney)!

I'm not going to go through what each person ate - I hardly remember! But I'll give you the highlights.

Part 2 - All that was left for the last week were me, DH, 2 dds (9 and 10) and ds (8).

We were all on the meal plan - thank goodness they finally let AP holders get the dining plan. DD (10) was charged as an adult, but except for buffets we usually paid out of pocket for a kids meal for her and used the extra ts for breakfasts etc. Unless I note otherwise kids always ate the usual, chicken nuggets, burgers, pasta or grilled cheese. No adventurous eaters in our group.

Part 1 of the trip we stayed at BC and got a surprise upgrade to concierge. That was wonderful. The kids filled up on croissants, bagels or donuts and fruit for breakfast. Older kids (22 and above) loved the beer and wine and the pre-dinner appetizers! It was definitely convenient to walk down the hall for a soda. No refillable mugs on this leg of the trip.

Day 1 (arrival day)

As is our tradition, as soon as we check in at YC/BC we head to Beaches and Cream. We always take a very early flight so the timing is perfect. B&C is usually just opening up when we get there. This time even a table of 16 was ready in no time at all.

We always loved B&C. Most of us stuck with the tried and true - burgers with fries (some got veggie burgers) and shakes or vanilla cokes. It was great as usual. We always say we're going to get the kitchen sink, but still haven't done that yet.


Dinner - Most of us went to Mama Melrose's for the FDP. Usually DH, the three youngest kids and I go to Hollywood Brown Derby for the FDP. Since everyone was one the dining plan we didn't want to make them use 2 ts so we went with MM's. We hadn't been back to Mama Melrose's since 2003!

Everything went so much better than expected. I've heard some bad things about this restaurant in regards to service so I held my breath. Our server was great and the food was really good.

I had the spaghetti with seafood. I asked to have it in regular marina sauce instead of the spicy fra diablo sauce and also asked for it to be served without mussels. No problem at all. I had the artisan bread and dips for my appetizer. Both the entree and the appetizer were delicious. Some in our group had the steak and said it was very good. Since dd (10) counted as an adult she ordered the 4 cheese flatbread pizza off the adult menu. She got the minestrone soup. DH ordered and ceasar salad for an appetizer. I'm drawing a blank at what he ordered. My one dd got the penne vodka entree and said it was really good. I had the lemon cream dessert and I loved it. It wasn't heavy at all so it was just the right touch. DH ordered an espresso coffee instead of dessert. Everyone was really happy with Mama Melrose's. We liked it so much that we went back for lunch later in the vacation.

My three oldest ds' went to Raglan Road for dinner. My Mom was supposed to go with them but she was exhausted from travelling and just ate the appetizers and desserts from concierge!

One ds got fish and chips, one got shepherd's pie and one got the steak. They said it was very good and they enjoyed the atmosphere. I know one ds got the chocolate "kiss" dessert and said it was sooooo chocolately and rich. Unfortunately the other two can't remember what they had for dessert - kids!

To be continued.

 

[Reese]

Looking forward to more reviews.
We have a grand gathering of 16 going in Dec.

 

[John's Mom]

I'm in!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

yummmmmmmmmmmm

 

[phabric]

Enjoyed your review. Will be looking for more.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Day 2

Breakfast - Crystal Palace - all 16 of us!

This is one of our "must do" ADRs each trip. We always pick the earliest time, so that we are finished before the park opens. CP did not disappoint - everyone loved the breakfast buffet, lots of choices, and character interaction was very good. Kids got to see all the characters in short order and participate in the parade. The server was a little confused with 4 different room cards/dining plans. DH stayed behind to help him figure it out so that rest of us could get a start on the rides.

Dinner - Libert Tree Tavern - the whole gang!

This was definitely a winner for our group. We love LTT and are so disappointed that it will be changing. The kids love the food so even if they do away with the characters I hope they don't change the menu. We are just crazy over the bread with honey butter and went through several baskets. Salads are always good with the strawberrry vinagrette and the main course was a hit for all. I was sooooo hoping the cherry cobbler would still be there. Several posters reported it was back in the beginning of July. I love the cherry cobbler but am not an apple fan. Well of course the apple cobbler and ice cream were back. Almost everyone else really liked the apple cobbler and ice cream.

I had ordered a chocolate mickey head cake for my Mom's 80th birthday so I was quite disappointed when they brought the plain chocolate generic cake out. I talked to the waiter afterwards and he didn't know anything about the other cake. He kept telling me we wouldn't be charged for the Mickey Head cake but that wasn't the point. I wasn't happy to pay $21 for a frozen Sara Lee cake but my Mom was happy so I let it go. Otherwise the meal was a hit.

Day 3

CRT - Lunch - 8 of us

Since the dgs could have cared less about meeting the Princesses they skipped this meal. We paid oop when we made the reservation. DDs have been there many times but this was dgd's (3) first time at the Castle. She was very excited and was dressed as Cinderella. DD (9) was also dressed as Cinderella and DD (10) was dressed as Tink. I really like the lunch at CRT. THe adult appetizer was very good. I always get the Major Domo pie, DH had the pasta. DIL got the Major Domo pie also, can't remember what ds got. Kids loved their ice cream "crown" sundaes, DH got the sorbet and I got the chocolate buckle. I still like the blueberry buckle with the lemon sorbet better, but since it was chocolate I made the sacrifice!

Dinner - Just the 5 of us.

Rose and Crown

We hit the jackpot on this dinner. We got the perfect patio table. Our server said it was the best seat in the house and boy was she right. We had a perfect, unobstructed view of Illuminations. DH and I ordered the cheese plate for an appetizer, and the kids had the potato leek soup. Both were delicious. I ordered bangers and mashed, dd (9) ordered off the adult menu and had fish and chips. She and I split the two entrees and both were delicious. I had the sticky toffee pudding for dessert and it was wonderful. Kids had ice cream. DH ordered the vegetable curry dish and said it was very good. We are so glad we tried R8C again. We hadn't been there since we had lunch in 2005. I wish they would bring back the adult shepherd's pie for dinner, but the bangers and mashed were very good.

The older boys and my mom ate at Chefs de France. All I know is that my mom and one ds had the duck and said it was very good, one son had the salmon that he said was excellent, and one ds had the chicken which he said was only ok. Ds and my mom had the crepes and said they were very good.

DD, dsil and dgs stayed in and had room service.

DS, ddil, and dgd went to Teppan Edo and said their meals were excellent.

To be continued.

 

[mcrabeck]

Great Reviews! we are doing a smaller Grand Gathering in November- it is fun to hear where you guys ate as a group!

 

[buckeyebill1995]

I'm in!

 

[TigerKat]

Signing on.....

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Day 4

Cape May Buffet Breakfast - 9 of us

My youngest three and 2 dgs' were doing the Albatross Cruise from YC/BC that morning so we did an early ADR for breakfast. Cape May Buffet is one of my favorite breakfast buffets in Disney. I just love the fact that I can get asparagus for breakfast! We were the first family seated (7:30 ADR) and the character interaction was fantastic. There were only a few families in the restaurant so the characters took a lot of time with the kids. They sat with the kids at the table coloring and playing around with them. My dgs (5) just loves Goofy so he was in his glory. We told Goofy how much dgs liked him and he really played it up. It was like having a personal character meeting. All the adults raved about the buffet offerings - my Mom just loved the bread pudding with vanilla sauce and the kids ate their fill of mickey waffles and fruit.

SIDE NOTE - For some strange reason Crystal Palace no longer had the Piglet, Tigger and Pooh waffles - it was mickey waffles only.

Kids had a great time on the Albatross Cruise.

We spent the rest of the day at the pool and ate at Hurricane Hannahs - good burgers, fries etc.

Dinner - Chef Mickey's - Just the 5 of us
Some of the family was starting with colds and/or stomach viruses so it turned out to be just the 5 of us.

The 3 oldest boys did Cirque du Soleil and ate at Wolfgang Pucks - they thought it was just okay, nothing special.

Ds, ddil and dgd ate at San Angel Inn and were very disappointed in their meals.

Chef Mickey's is an old standby for us. We go every year to get the family pictures for our frig. Our favorites are parmesean potatoes, ravioli and prime rib. Dessert selection was good. Character interaction wasn't that great - Donald never even made his way to our table and Goofy seemed rushed. Mickey and Minnie were good. Our kids go all the time so the character things wasn't as big for us, but I would feel bad for a family who had never been to Disney since Donald appears so seldom at these character buffets. It would have been a shame if their table had been skipped.

Day 5

This was our EPCOT day and our family photo session. I had a hair appointment so we were kind of rushed. We had eaten breakfast in the concierge lounge and the kids had frozen cokes from Liberty Inn and ate lunch at Hurricane Hannah's. I snacked in the lounge and our room.

Dinner - Biergarten - All 16 of us.

We really like the Biergarten but weren't sure how the rest of the family would like it. My oldest dd (31) kept saying she didn't think she would like German food, but went anyway because I kept telling her what a fan place it is. She ended up loving it. The kids had a great time dancing on the dance floor. The older kids had a great time drinking beer and doing the toasts. Everyone liked the food, and agreed that there was something for everyone even if you didn't like German food.

The only thing my other dd (10) missed was the chocolate cups filled with vanilla pudding. She used to love that dessert but they changed it to vanilla pudding with chocolate chips.

To Be Continued . . .

 

[dlj123]

I cant wait til October.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Day 6 - MGM Day

We ate breakfast at the concierge lounge.

On the way to MGM I must have dropped my cell phone on the boat and it was never seen again. I was nuts trying to keep the group plans together without a cell phone!

Lunch - Sci-Fi All 16 of us

We had three 6 seaters cars. We always do Sci-Fi for lunch. The kids think it's great to eat in the cars. Only my oldest dd (31) has even a remote memory of real drive-in movies, so everyone else really thought the experience was unique. Mostly everyone had cheeseburgers and fries, a few had the chicken sandwich with the cucumber/melon salad. Two had dessert - one a hot fudge sundae and the other a huge piece of cheesecake.

We really like the sci-fi burgers and everyone agreed they lived up to the hype. Those who had the chicken sandwich said it was good.

Dinner - 50's PTC - 8 of us

THere were supposed to be 13 of us but my MOm wasn't feeling well, and the heavens opened up when dd and her family were supposed to leave so they decided tojust grab something from the BeachClub Marketplace.

Two of my older ds' had meatloaf, one ds and myself had the fried chicken, and dh had the salmon. The chicken was delicious. THe boys said the meatloaf was very good - but since they are such nice boys, said it wasn't as good as my meatloaf. Not to brag, but I am know as the "meatloaf queen" in our family! Dh said the salmon was pretty good. The kids had the usual - chicken nuggets and make your own sundaes. We ordered smores, a few brownie sundaes, and one regular sundae to round out the dessert. We had Cousin Elizabeth as our server and she had just the right balance. We like to kid around with the server at PTC, but our 25 year old ds has Asperger's so I wasn't sure how he would react, even though we had prepared him. The server seemed to grasp the situation and mostly picked on DH. Of course we just loved that! Everyone was glad we had braved the rain to do 50's PTC.

Day 7 - AK Day

Lunch - Pizzafari

Most of us ate at Pizzafari. I had the hot italian sandwich, DH and a few others had the chicken parm sandwich, some had pizza, and one of the kids had the kids spaghetti and meatballs. We used a snack credit for an order of breadsticks for everyone to share. Not gourmet food, but pretty good for counter service. We hated when Tusker House closed from a cs to a ts, but we're starting to enjoy Pizzafar. Most of us got the frozen lemonade for dessert and gave it to the kids. I think one of the adults got chocolate cake and took it back to the room.

My oldest dd and her family ate at the Yak and Yeti counter service and thought it was pretty good. She had the honey chicken and the kids had chicken nuggets and they all enjoyed their food.

Dinner - Coral Reef

We had ordered a diver to celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday. This was the last night of the Magical Gathering so we were all together. We had also sent photos for a personalized menu. Unfortunately the photos that we sent were on one employees computer and the person in charge that night said they had forgotten to make the card and he couldn't get into the file. I was a little bummed since there were some very old photos of my mom and dad (deceased) and the rest of the family.

However, Mom was thrilled over the diver and couldn't believe that we had done that for her. The food was delicious. I was upset when I ready that the crab legs, that I had in January, were no longer on the menu but I sucked it up. My Mom and I had the linguini with seafood, one ds has the mahi mahi, one had the chicken, and one ds and oldest dd had the steak. We were at three tables so I don't know what the other adult table ordered. You know the drill for the kids table - pizza and mac and cheese. All the entrees were very good and the steak was fabulous! I ordered the lobster bisque and gave a taste to mostly everyone at my table (dd wouldn't go near lobster if you paid her). It was sooooo good that two more people added the bisque to their order.

My one ds and myself had the key lime tart, one ds had the Jack Daniels mousse with the chocolate cigar, and my mom and dd had the sorbet with the fruit. Everyone agreed that the desserts were great and that this was a wonderful finale to our Magical Gathering.

To be continued . . . .

 

[christophfam]

Love your review!



What's next?

 

[Magic2000]

Loved your reviews! How did your DD (10) like the adult menu? My DD is 13, but she almost always orders off the kids menu - the kid LOVES chicken nuggets, and where else but on vacation can you eat them for almost every meal??

For our next trip, I booked the deluxe dining plan, and I think she'll be ok with the adult menu. She LOVED the Yachtsman Steakhouse - especially the creme brulee! (If not, I guess I'll just ask for a child's menu)

 

[iluvpluto27]

Enjoying your reviews.

 

[suzimar57]

waiting for day 8....

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent