Just back from free dining 9/26 10/3
Heres my (short-ish) dining review. Thanks so much to everyone here for all their detailed reviews and info which helped me plan. Lots of new places for us this time! Had the basic dining plan and also our first experience with TIW. Overall I was very pleased, with our ADRs, the food and the service. I didn't book some of the places which I thought would be more loud and crazy with free dining, i.e. CM, 'Ohana.
Overview of Table Service dinners
The Plaza seated right away though we were running late, nice CM, spacious dining room, good sandwiches (I had the tuna) and fries, chips didnt taste fresh
Narcoossees seated quickly, pretty room and nice location, two CMs were waiting on us but shared duties smoothly but served too quickly and lacking some atmosphere of other 2 TS restaurants we have been to including CG and Brown Derby, the food very good, crab cakes and ahi tuna both good, had the whole lobster (and as mentioned here before) probably not the best choice, it was a little dry and chewy but the flavor was good, the potatoes were heavenly and almond cheesecake delish
The Wave seated quickly, love this place, cool, dark and quiet, great CM, the food would have been awesome but very underseasoned like somebody completely forgot the salt! Easily cured but had to ask for salt and pepper for the tuna and spring roll appet, and for the salmon. Cant recall what DH had but he also reached for the salt shaker, desserts were good too
Boma really like this place but can be chaotic, waited 15 -20 min to be seated, very good food, I was not as adventurous as usual but really enjoyed the Durban spiced chicken, the beef cant remember the cut, bobotie, couscous Marrakesh, salads and rice. The salmon also looked good but I didnt have any. Too full for dessert!
LTT waited an hour to be seated on an MNSSHP nite and then slow service. Should have listened to people on here about not wasting time doing table service in the park on a party nite! It was 7 by the time we got out of there and luckily we asked and were able to get our party bracelets from the manager. I thought the food was good for what it was. I have a hard time finding fault with mashed potatoes and stuffing
We completely skipped dessert because we wanted out of there!
Table service lunches
CRT some chaos at the entrance but in the end we didnt wait long (maybe 10 min). We enjoyed this mostly from watching our DS6 reaction to the princesses, he got kissed by Cinderella and hugs and kisses from Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine. His face was priceless, twitterpated for sure! They didnt stay at our table long (no little princesses here), and I didnt have my camera (let my cell phone battery die doh) but he got some instructions on how to be a prince. I was pleasantly surprised by the food, although heavy on the garlic. Had the major domo pie and enjoyed it. I did not feel rushed here but not sure if well do it again.
Chefs really enjoyed this maybe because I was on my second grey goose slushie
, had the prix fix meal onion soup and croque monsieur, tasty, DH had quiche which was also very good, the profiteroles had a been in the freezer taste with ice crystals in the ice cream. Oh well, seeing Remy made up for that. DS was really surprised I hadnt told him because I thought Remy would be gone. This was Sept 30.
Yak and Yeti seated right away, I enjoy the décor in this restaurant and it was really hot out so it felt great. Our waitress was a bit ditzy and mixed up our orders with the table across from us, so my meal came out 10 min after my DH and DS and the bill was screwed up too. The steak and shrimp was Ok, the plum sauce is too sweet for me and I was wishing for more sauce from the veggies to mix in with the rice. But loved the cream cheese wontons! FYI - They do not take TIW.
Le Cellier it is so pretty outside this restaurant I guess I hadnt been back there before. We were seated quickly. Had the cheese soup and spicy chicken and sausage, for apps, very good, I had mushroom filet, DH had the strip steak both were very good, the choc moose and make your own Smores were good but we were full! Really enjoyed this!
Counter service
All breakfasts and 1 lunch at POFQ DH and I would share a breakfast platter and DS was happy with his cereal, milk and banana (OOP). We hadnt shared in previous years so consequently ended up with extra CS at the end of the week which we never used making notes for next year.
Lunch at Sunshine seasons I liked the Asian food I got, DH was disappointed at the amount of tuna on his Caeser salad (the chicken looked a better deal) and I was unimpressed with the kids choices here unless I missed something the place is a little difficult to figure out. The strawberry shortcake was a hit.
Dinner at Tangierine café great value and food here. We got a Shawarma platter here to share with DS since there wasnt a lot at F and W that hed eat.
Lunch at Columbia Harbour House great island in the sea of craziness of MK at midday! We had to wait in line a bit for food but plenty of tables upstairs with lots of room and window seats. I liked the tuna sandwich and apple tart. DH liked the chicken but had to share with DS as even our 6 yo could tell his chicken nuggets were not as good as Daddys! I know it has been mentioned here before but why cant they give the kids the same ones?
F and W we ate dinner at the F & W festival two nights. Purchased a $100 gift card for the 3 of us (mostly for drinks ) and used it all, used 15 18 snack credits plus another $20-30 in cash in all. Sorry for lack of detail but rather not think about how much we were spending! I enjoyed listening to Starship (the concert theatre was crowded!) as we walked around and it seemed like there were more places to sit this year.
Some highlights: baklava, meatballs from Italy, empanada, quesadilla and taco, kefta, gumbo, lobster roll, mouse catch cheeses, the lamb chop was very rich and the sushi not so great, the mushroom soup was a little weird, grainy. Didnt get to try as many things as I wanted but the 2nd evening was after lunch at Le Cellier and we were tired and hot AND it was a Friday nite bad idea the place was packed.
Two thumbs up for the Cosmo slushie at the France booth with Grey Goose, Cointreau, and cranberry juice as well as the regular lemon grey goose slushie. I actually left our table at Chefs to go outside and get one since they didnt have them inside. Thanks for the suggestion, DISsers! Also sampled lots of wines yum!
It was nice to have the TIW since we usually get wine and an appetizer at the better restaurants. And because we had too many TS for our basic dining plan. I got an AP for the first time woohoo partly to get the TIW and then will look for AP rates for next trip. Depending on what kind of deals are out there we might skip the dining plan next time and just use the TIW. I would just like a bit more freedom in ordering. We skipped or just had a bite or two of several desserts and then wanted Mickey bars later. In fact, I keep looking in our freezer at home for them. Where are they???
If anyone has questions I am happy to try to answer.
Heres my (short-ish) dining review. Thanks so much to everyone here for all their detailed reviews and info which helped me plan. Lots of new places for us this time! Had the basic dining plan and also our first experience with TIW. Overall I was very pleased, with our ADRs, the food and the service. I didn't book some of the places which I thought would be more loud and crazy with free dining, i.e. CM, 'Ohana.
Overview of Table Service dinners
The Plaza seated right away though we were running late, nice CM, spacious dining room, good sandwiches (I had the tuna) and fries, chips didnt taste fresh
Narcoossees seated quickly, pretty room and nice location, two CMs were waiting on us but shared duties smoothly but served too quickly and lacking some atmosphere of other 2 TS restaurants we have been to including CG and Brown Derby, the food very good, crab cakes and ahi tuna both good, had the whole lobster (and as mentioned here before) probably not the best choice, it was a little dry and chewy but the flavor was good, the potatoes were heavenly and almond cheesecake delish
The Wave seated quickly, love this place, cool, dark and quiet, great CM, the food would have been awesome but very underseasoned like somebody completely forgot the salt! Easily cured but had to ask for salt and pepper for the tuna and spring roll appet, and for the salmon. Cant recall what DH had but he also reached for the salt shaker, desserts were good too
Boma really like this place but can be chaotic, waited 15 -20 min to be seated, very good food, I was not as adventurous as usual but really enjoyed the Durban spiced chicken, the beef cant remember the cut, bobotie, couscous Marrakesh, salads and rice. The salmon also looked good but I didnt have any. Too full for dessert!
LTT waited an hour to be seated on an MNSSHP nite and then slow service. Should have listened to people on here about not wasting time doing table service in the park on a party nite! It was 7 by the time we got out of there and luckily we asked and were able to get our party bracelets from the manager. I thought the food was good for what it was. I have a hard time finding fault with mashed potatoes and stuffing
We completely skipped dessert because we wanted out of there! Table service lunches
CRT some chaos at the entrance but in the end we didnt wait long (maybe 10 min). We enjoyed this mostly from watching our DS6 reaction to the princesses, he got kissed by Cinderella and hugs and kisses from Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine. His face was priceless, twitterpated for sure! They didnt stay at our table long (no little princesses here), and I didnt have my camera (let my cell phone battery die doh) but he got some instructions on how to be a prince. I was pleasantly surprised by the food, although heavy on the garlic. Had the major domo pie and enjoyed it. I did not feel rushed here but not sure if well do it again.
Chefs really enjoyed this maybe because I was on my second grey goose slushie
, had the prix fix meal onion soup and croque monsieur, tasty, DH had quiche which was also very good, the profiteroles had a been in the freezer taste with ice crystals in the ice cream. Oh well, seeing Remy made up for that. DS was really surprised I hadnt told him because I thought Remy would be gone. This was Sept 30. Yak and Yeti seated right away, I enjoy the décor in this restaurant and it was really hot out so it felt great. Our waitress was a bit ditzy and mixed up our orders with the table across from us, so my meal came out 10 min after my DH and DS and the bill was screwed up too. The steak and shrimp was Ok, the plum sauce is too sweet for me and I was wishing for more sauce from the veggies to mix in with the rice. But loved the cream cheese wontons! FYI - They do not take TIW.
Le Cellier it is so pretty outside this restaurant I guess I hadnt been back there before. We were seated quickly. Had the cheese soup and spicy chicken and sausage, for apps, very good, I had mushroom filet, DH had the strip steak both were very good, the choc moose and make your own Smores were good but we were full! Really enjoyed this!
Counter service
All breakfasts and 1 lunch at POFQ DH and I would share a breakfast platter and DS was happy with his cereal, milk and banana (OOP). We hadnt shared in previous years so consequently ended up with extra CS at the end of the week which we never used making notes for next year.
Lunch at Sunshine seasons I liked the Asian food I got, DH was disappointed at the amount of tuna on his Caeser salad (the chicken looked a better deal) and I was unimpressed with the kids choices here unless I missed something the place is a little difficult to figure out. The strawberry shortcake was a hit.
Dinner at Tangierine café great value and food here. We got a Shawarma platter here to share with DS since there wasnt a lot at F and W that hed eat.
Lunch at Columbia Harbour House great island in the sea of craziness of MK at midday! We had to wait in line a bit for food but plenty of tables upstairs with lots of room and window seats. I liked the tuna sandwich and apple tart. DH liked the chicken but had to share with DS as even our 6 yo could tell his chicken nuggets were not as good as Daddys! I know it has been mentioned here before but why cant they give the kids the same ones?
F and W we ate dinner at the F & W festival two nights. Purchased a $100 gift card for the 3 of us (mostly for drinks
) and used it all, used 15 18 snack credits plus another $20-30 in cash in all. Sorry for lack of detail but rather not think about how much we were spending! I enjoyed listening to Starship (the concert theatre was crowded!) as we walked around and it seemed like there were more places to sit this year. Some highlights: baklava, meatballs from Italy, empanada, quesadilla and taco, kefta, gumbo, lobster roll, mouse catch cheeses, the lamb chop was very rich and the sushi not so great, the mushroom soup was a little weird, grainy. Didnt get to try as many things as I wanted but the 2nd evening was after lunch at Le Cellier and we were tired and hot AND it was a Friday nite bad idea the place was packed.
Two thumbs up for the Cosmo slushie at the France booth with Grey Goose, Cointreau, and cranberry juice as well as the regular lemon grey goose slushie. I actually left our table at Chefs to go outside and get one since they didnt have them inside.
Thanks for the suggestion, DISsers! Also sampled lots of wines yum! It was nice to have the TIW since we usually get wine and an appetizer at the better restaurants. And because we had too many TS for our basic dining plan. I got an AP for the first time woohoo partly to get the TIW and then will look for AP rates for next trip. Depending on what kind of deals are out there we might skip the dining plan next time and just use the TIW. I would just like a bit more freedom in ordering. We skipped or just had a bite or two of several desserts and then wanted Mickey bars later. In fact, I keep looking in our freezer at home for them. Where are they???
If anyone has questions I am happy to try to answer.
