We just returned last weekend after a great trip with free dining. There were 13 of us, our family of four, my cousin's family of 7 ( 
Disneyfreak7, if you're reading this!), another cousin and my aunt. So, six adults and 7 kids, ages 14, 13, 11, 5, 5, almost 3 and almost 3.
We had ADR's made months in advance, and almost every time they told us they couldn't guarantee us tables together for such a large party. We never ran into trouble with this....we were always seated together. Disneyfreak7 and I were not allowed to take pictures of our food because our husbands wouldn't let us!
They just don't understand the DIS, and were completely dumbfounded that we'd even suggest doing that! So, we'll have to go with the written version only this time!
Day One as a group: AK
Now, Disneyfreak7 and her family ate at Tony's on Saturday night because they got in about 12 hours earlier than we did....but she'll have to contribute her OWN dining review on that one!
I must also say that we had more TS's booked than we had credits. We paid OOP for some things along the way and never had any problems. Sometimes the big kids wanted kids meals, so we paid OOP for them, and saved the adult credits for later. We paid OOP for the little kids at some of the a la carte restaurants (LeCellier and 50's) and saved their credits for more expensive buffets. We never had any problems doing this, or sharing meals.
So, back to day one...9/24. We had ordered groceries from wegoshop (which we highly recommend) so we ate breakfast in the room and on the bus.
Lunch at Flame tree. It was so &%@! hot and humid that it was really hard to enjoy this, but it was good. We had sandwiches and the chicken, and most of us seemed to enjoy it. The beans are sweet, which I like, but the corn was kind of mushy. The kids loved the ducks everywhere. We did run over to Dinoland to get McD's for the little kids, because they just didn't care for the kids' meals here. We would definitely eat here again. Just wish they had some airconditioned seating!
Dinner at Boma. LOVED IT! I didn't hear any complaints from anyone...not even my picky 5 yr old. He found enough to keep him happy, and the zebra domes were awesome! So many different types of flavors here. we will definitely go back.
Monday @ Mk. Breakfast at CP. They couldn't find my cousin's ADR. It was listed under someone else's name. When you check in at your resort, you can ask for a print out of your ADR's just to confirm everything...we should have done that, but we didn't. They did find it, and were seated just a few minutes behind us (we had made these ADR's seperately). The character interaction here is great, and the food is really good. Lots of things to choose from. It was crowded at 8:15 (when we got seated) and didn't make it out of the restaurant until after the park opened at 9am. I did feel like we were rushing thru this so we could be in the park by 9....next time I'll try not to do that so we can enjoy the meal at a more leisurely pace.
Lunch for the kids at Harbor House...Pecos Bills for us. Again, the kid's didn't want either of the options at PB, so they shared chicken baskets at CHH. No flames, please....we did order two adult meals here for 4 kids to share. Chocolate cake is awesome! We had burgers and wraps at PB. The wraps are huge! We could have easily shared these, too. Problem here is that my cousin's youngest is highly allergic to peanut butter, which is like the only dessert choice, so we had to wipe the table down, and make sure noone ate the dessert at her table. DH's loved the fixin bar, and the peanut butter dessert is awesome (we ate this at a different table, away from the 2 yr old).
Dinner at Ohana for our family of 4. Very good, as usual! We didn't mind the menu changes. Actually, the potatoes are great, and so is the bread pudding. all of the meats were cooked well, and we were able to order a kids chicken tender meal for the boys. My youngest will eat steak, potatoes, etc, but my 5 year old can be ridiculously resistant to anything new. The boys loved the coconut races and the entertainer was pleasant...we didn't find him too over the top, and we were sitting right next to him. We will definitely return, as this is my DH's favorite place.
Tuesday, MGM.
Breakfast at H&V (playhouse Disney). This place was empty at 10:30am. The characters came around like 3 or 4 times, so the kids were actually bored with them. They get the kids up to dance and parade, too. It was a fun breakfast, and the food was good. Simple breakfast offerings, but very tasty. We probably won't return here because the 5 year olds thought it was too "babyish" for them. The almost 3's loved it, though.
Dinner at 50's. Half of us ate here, half at SciFi. The little kids had had a pizza at Pizza Planet, so we ordered just dessert for them, which wasn't a problem with cousin Topher. Our DH's didn't really get into the true fun of this place...they just didn't "get" it, I guess.
But the food was really good. We had the pot roast, fried chicken, steak and salmon. Noone had any complaints (exept for the downpour of rain that we had to run thru from the RNR to get to our ADR on time!). We will probably return here.
Wednesday at MK. Repeated our lunches from Monday. CHH for the kids, and PB for the big kids and adults.
Dole Whip floats for snack. Yum! DH and I loved this....they also have regular ice cream flavors with sprinkles for the kids. How did we miss this place on so many past visits???
Dinner at Spoodles. This was by far our favorite dinner on our last trip, but we just felt like something was missing. Maybe the stripped down menu and the fact that our server seemed annoyed by our big party? The service was slow, and we waited forever to order and get our desserts. We could actually see our desserts sitting on the counter for a good 5-10 minutes before someone brought them to us. The entrees were okay....I had the chicken, alfredo was just "eh"....the rigatoni was good...I should have gotten that. Loved the dips appy....had it last year, too. We will probably give it another chance if we go back to WDW next year.
Up next, Electric Umbrella, Le Cellier, Wolfgang Express, Goofy's candy Co, CP for dinner and Sci Fi
Disneyfreak7, if you're reading this!), another cousin and my aunt. So, six adults and 7 kids, ages 14, 13, 11, 5, 5, almost 3 and almost 3.We had ADR's made months in advance, and almost every time they told us they couldn't guarantee us tables together for such a large party. We never ran into trouble with this....we were always seated together. Disneyfreak7 and I were not allowed to take pictures of our food because our husbands wouldn't let us!
They just don't understand the DIS, and were completely dumbfounded that we'd even suggest doing that! So, we'll have to go with the written version only this time!Day One as a group: AK
Now, Disneyfreak7 and her family ate at Tony's on Saturday night because they got in about 12 hours earlier than we did....but she'll have to contribute her OWN dining review on that one!
I must also say that we had more TS's booked than we had credits. We paid OOP for some things along the way and never had any problems. Sometimes the big kids wanted kids meals, so we paid OOP for them, and saved the adult credits for later. We paid OOP for the little kids at some of the a la carte restaurants (LeCellier and 50's) and saved their credits for more expensive buffets. We never had any problems doing this, or sharing meals.
So, back to day one...9/24. We had ordered groceries from wegoshop (which we highly recommend) so we ate breakfast in the room and on the bus.
Lunch at Flame tree. It was so &%@! hot and humid that it was really hard to enjoy this, but it was good. We had sandwiches and the chicken, and most of us seemed to enjoy it. The beans are sweet, which I like, but the corn was kind of mushy. The kids loved the ducks everywhere. We did run over to Dinoland to get McD's for the little kids, because they just didn't care for the kids' meals here. We would definitely eat here again. Just wish they had some airconditioned seating!
Dinner at Boma. LOVED IT! I didn't hear any complaints from anyone...not even my picky 5 yr old. He found enough to keep him happy, and the zebra domes were awesome! So many different types of flavors here. we will definitely go back.
Monday @ Mk. Breakfast at CP. They couldn't find my cousin's ADR. It was listed under someone else's name. When you check in at your resort, you can ask for a print out of your ADR's just to confirm everything...we should have done that, but we didn't. They did find it, and were seated just a few minutes behind us (we had made these ADR's seperately). The character interaction here is great, and the food is really good. Lots of things to choose from. It was crowded at 8:15 (when we got seated) and didn't make it out of the restaurant until after the park opened at 9am. I did feel like we were rushing thru this so we could be in the park by 9....next time I'll try not to do that so we can enjoy the meal at a more leisurely pace.
Lunch for the kids at Harbor House...Pecos Bills for us. Again, the kid's didn't want either of the options at PB, so they shared chicken baskets at CHH. No flames, please....we did order two adult meals here for 4 kids to share. Chocolate cake is awesome! We had burgers and wraps at PB. The wraps are huge! We could have easily shared these, too. Problem here is that my cousin's youngest is highly allergic to peanut butter, which is like the only dessert choice, so we had to wipe the table down, and make sure noone ate the dessert at her table. DH's loved the fixin bar, and the peanut butter dessert is awesome (we ate this at a different table, away from the 2 yr old).
Dinner at Ohana for our family of 4. Very good, as usual! We didn't mind the menu changes. Actually, the potatoes are great, and so is the bread pudding. all of the meats were cooked well, and we were able to order a kids chicken tender meal for the boys. My youngest will eat steak, potatoes, etc, but my 5 year old can be ridiculously resistant to anything new. The boys loved the coconut races and the entertainer was pleasant...we didn't find him too over the top, and we were sitting right next to him. We will definitely return, as this is my DH's favorite place.
Tuesday, MGM.
Breakfast at H&V (playhouse Disney). This place was empty at 10:30am. The characters came around like 3 or 4 times, so the kids were actually bored with them
. They get the kids up to dance and parade, too. It was a fun breakfast, and the food was good. Simple breakfast offerings, but very tasty. We probably won't return here because the 5 year olds thought it was too "babyish" for them. The almost 3's loved it, though.Dinner at 50's. Half of us ate here, half at SciFi. The little kids had had a pizza at Pizza Planet, so we ordered just dessert for them, which wasn't a problem with cousin Topher. Our DH's didn't really get into the true fun of this place...they just didn't "get" it, I guess.
But the food was really good. We had the pot roast, fried chicken, steak and salmon. Noone had any complaints (exept for the downpour of rain that we had to run thru from the RNR to get to our ADR on time!). We will probably return here.Wednesday at MK. Repeated our lunches from Monday. CHH for the kids, and PB for the big kids and adults.
Dole Whip floats for snack. Yum! DH and I loved this....they also have regular ice cream flavors with sprinkles for the kids. How did we miss this place on so many past visits???
Dinner at Spoodles. This was by far our favorite dinner on our last trip, but we just felt like something was missing. Maybe the stripped down menu and the fact that our server seemed annoyed by our big party? The service was slow, and we waited forever to order and get our desserts. We could actually see our desserts sitting on the counter for a good 5-10 minutes before someone brought them to us. The entrees were okay....I had the chicken, alfredo was just "eh"....the rigatoni was good...I should have gotten that. Loved the dips appy....had it last year, too. We will probably give it another chance if we go back to WDW next year.
Up next, Electric Umbrella, Le Cellier, Wolfgang Express, Goofy's candy Co, CP for dinner and Sci Fi
