Here's the next installment.
Brown Derby Fantasmia dinner package-- Food was very, very good and the price was quite nice-- 36.99 for appetizer, entree, and dessert-- less than if we would have bought them separately. We liked the atmosphere, our waiter was efficient- though not as friendly as we have come to expect from Disney-- he was not very good with our son at all and just seemed overall a bit impatient-- and it wasn't that crowded when we were there. My son had the frozen lemonade drink-- a big hit. For appetizers, I had the crab cakes- yum, and my husband-- who is a picky eater-- loved the mixed field salad. For entrees, I had the roast rack of lamb, cabbage (wonderful) and acorn squash-- loved the lamb; my husband stuck with the filet which he deemed perfectly done. My son had the chicken, potatoes, and chicken noodle soup. Dessert was the grapefruit cake- moist and fruity, but not too sweet; and vanilla creme brulee-- good, but I liked the one from LeCellier better. My husband and son want to do this again.
On to Norway for the Princess Breakfast-- I know some were asking about boys and the princess's breakfast-- all I can say is that my son loved all the attention, and he had several red lipstick marks on his cheek. We had an 8:50 seating and were promptly seated. The fruit, yogurt dip, and pastries were on the table when we were seated-- I found the pastries a bit dry, the fruit was perfectly ripe. Food consisted of a family platter of eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, and cheesy potatoes-- more than enough to go around-- loved the potatoes. Waitress was wonderful- busy but attentive-- and the princesses were great-- lots of character interaction- I have spent some time prompting my son to engage the characters in conversation-- so they are likely to spend a bit of time with him- Mary Poppins was true to form- a bit bossy, but loving-- the others were wonderfully sweet-- and what was surprising was that the character that played Belle-- we are pretty sure-- was the same one who rode Peter Pan with my son last year-- and she seemed to remember him.
Grand Floridian Tea-- My husband and I did the Grand tea while my son did the Alice in Wonderland tea. We loved the tea-- I had the peppermint and my husband had the iced raspberry-- I liked the food with the grand tea- the sandwiches were decent, I loved the onion tart, the trifle was ok, but had an artificial taste to it (since I make a mean trifle, I am picky about how they taste). The food was not up my husband's alley at all although he did like the pastry for dessert-- we are going to do the tea again-- but "piecemeal" it-- get the fruit and cheese plate, etc. Service was adequate, but not overly impressive.
Alice in Wonderland tea-- My son has a severe peanut allergy and they bent over backwards to make sure he was nowhere near the peanut butter (we were just down the hall with the epi pen just in case)-- they also had special food for him-- the table was decorated so cute and my son loved the games and seeing the characters-- the hostesses were wonderful as was the character interaction.
Mickey's Backyard Barbecue-- Boy, have they changed how the characters interact since last year? I remember basically standing in line for autographs, and a bit of a performance by the characters, but not much else in character interaction. It was storming the night we were there this year so we left by about 8:15 I think-- so my comments are based on what I saw. First, the characters actually got out and danced with the kids-- several times--which was great-- and after the first dance set they would also sign autographs, pose for pictures.
However, it also resulted in some fairly uneven character interaction-- I noticed that for the most part the characters tried to dance with several children-- hold hands with one child for a while and then another child for a while. Goofy and Minnie were particularly great about this-- and Goofy was just a riot to watch and interact with. Mickey was fairly decent too. But, Chip and Dale tended to pick a few kids and stick with them for several songs -- 2 1/2 songs worth in a row- while ignoring other children, particularly boys. It got to the point that my son's feelings were quite hurt by the chipmunks -- who are among his favorties-- my son was the only child around one of them for about 2 minutes-- and he followed him trying to dance with him-- he got a pat on the head while the chipmunk found a girl to dance with (he actually had to hunt for the girl and walk away from my son) after that, my husband and I both went up and "facilitated" their interaction with other children-- including my son. (We pointedly said-- he's been waiting patiently to dance with you-- please dance with him now.) Food was ok, but neither the chicken nor the ribs tasted as good as that at the Hoop dee doo. The dancing and the character interaction put this at the top of my son's redo list.
Boma for Breakfast-- we had a 7:00 a.m. PS and were promptly seated-- food, as at dinner, was nothing short of extraordinary-- a variety of eggs and other breakfast dishes-- the bobotie-- corned beef hash type of dish and the egg dishes were incredibly good-- the fruit drink was fabulous and the service was the best we had at Boma. I think the trick to Boma is to get either the first or last seating and avoid anything in between because of how screwed up their PS system is at this restaurant.
Hollywood and Vine-- We got a 3:00 walk in seating here-- and were very glad we did-- they celebrated my son's birthday with a card, cupcake and singing-- which he delighted in. The food was fresh and quite good-- my husband loved the meats, sausage, and mashed potatoes-- I thought the salads were quite good-- lovely selection and fresh tasting-- we sampled a bit of almost everything and liked it all. Our waitress was wonderful. We would do this one again.
Ok, I'll take a break and finish in a bit-- Thanks for reading the comments and I would be glad to answer any questions. Diane
Brown Derby Fantasmia dinner package-- Food was very, very good and the price was quite nice-- 36.99 for appetizer, entree, and dessert-- less than if we would have bought them separately. We liked the atmosphere, our waiter was efficient- though not as friendly as we have come to expect from Disney-- he was not very good with our son at all and just seemed overall a bit impatient-- and it wasn't that crowded when we were there. My son had the frozen lemonade drink-- a big hit. For appetizers, I had the crab cakes- yum, and my husband-- who is a picky eater-- loved the mixed field salad. For entrees, I had the roast rack of lamb, cabbage (wonderful) and acorn squash-- loved the lamb; my husband stuck with the filet which he deemed perfectly done. My son had the chicken, potatoes, and chicken noodle soup. Dessert was the grapefruit cake- moist and fruity, but not too sweet; and vanilla creme brulee-- good, but I liked the one from LeCellier better. My husband and son want to do this again.
On to Norway for the Princess Breakfast-- I know some were asking about boys and the princess's breakfast-- all I can say is that my son loved all the attention, and he had several red lipstick marks on his cheek. We had an 8:50 seating and were promptly seated. The fruit, yogurt dip, and pastries were on the table when we were seated-- I found the pastries a bit dry, the fruit was perfectly ripe. Food consisted of a family platter of eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, and cheesy potatoes-- more than enough to go around-- loved the potatoes. Waitress was wonderful- busy but attentive-- and the princesses were great-- lots of character interaction- I have spent some time prompting my son to engage the characters in conversation-- so they are likely to spend a bit of time with him- Mary Poppins was true to form- a bit bossy, but loving-- the others were wonderfully sweet-- and what was surprising was that the character that played Belle-- we are pretty sure-- was the same one who rode Peter Pan with my son last year-- and she seemed to remember him.
Grand Floridian Tea-- My husband and I did the Grand tea while my son did the Alice in Wonderland tea. We loved the tea-- I had the peppermint and my husband had the iced raspberry-- I liked the food with the grand tea- the sandwiches were decent, I loved the onion tart, the trifle was ok, but had an artificial taste to it (since I make a mean trifle, I am picky about how they taste). The food was not up my husband's alley at all although he did like the pastry for dessert-- we are going to do the tea again-- but "piecemeal" it-- get the fruit and cheese plate, etc. Service was adequate, but not overly impressive.
Alice in Wonderland tea-- My son has a severe peanut allergy and they bent over backwards to make sure he was nowhere near the peanut butter (we were just down the hall with the epi pen just in case)-- they also had special food for him-- the table was decorated so cute and my son loved the games and seeing the characters-- the hostesses were wonderful as was the character interaction.
Mickey's Backyard Barbecue-- Boy, have they changed how the characters interact since last year? I remember basically standing in line for autographs, and a bit of a performance by the characters, but not much else in character interaction. It was storming the night we were there this year so we left by about 8:15 I think-- so my comments are based on what I saw. First, the characters actually got out and danced with the kids-- several times--which was great-- and after the first dance set they would also sign autographs, pose for pictures.
However, it also resulted in some fairly uneven character interaction-- I noticed that for the most part the characters tried to dance with several children-- hold hands with one child for a while and then another child for a while. Goofy and Minnie were particularly great about this-- and Goofy was just a riot to watch and interact with. Mickey was fairly decent too. But, Chip and Dale tended to pick a few kids and stick with them for several songs -- 2 1/2 songs worth in a row- while ignoring other children, particularly boys. It got to the point that my son's feelings were quite hurt by the chipmunks -- who are among his favorties-- my son was the only child around one of them for about 2 minutes-- and he followed him trying to dance with him-- he got a pat on the head while the chipmunk found a girl to dance with (he actually had to hunt for the girl and walk away from my son) after that, my husband and I both went up and "facilitated" their interaction with other children-- including my son. (We pointedly said-- he's been waiting patiently to dance with you-- please dance with him now.) Food was ok, but neither the chicken nor the ribs tasted as good as that at the Hoop dee doo. The dancing and the character interaction put this at the top of my son's redo list.
Boma for Breakfast-- we had a 7:00 a.m. PS and were promptly seated-- food, as at dinner, was nothing short of extraordinary-- a variety of eggs and other breakfast dishes-- the bobotie-- corned beef hash type of dish and the egg dishes were incredibly good-- the fruit drink was fabulous and the service was the best we had at Boma. I think the trick to Boma is to get either the first or last seating and avoid anything in between because of how screwed up their PS system is at this restaurant.
Hollywood and Vine-- We got a 3:00 walk in seating here-- and were very glad we did-- they celebrated my son's birthday with a card, cupcake and singing-- which he delighted in. The food was fresh and quite good-- my husband loved the meats, sausage, and mashed potatoes-- I thought the salads were quite good-- lovely selection and fresh tasting-- we sampled a bit of almost everything and liked it all. Our waitress was wonderful. We would do this one again.
Ok, I'll take a break and finish in a bit-- Thanks for reading the comments and I would be glad to answer any questions. Diane
....I was especially interested in the Alice tea party.... i was wondering if there are alot of boys there, and what's the average age...i know you said your son went, so i was glad to hear that as i'm thinking of letting my little guy go to this instead of the pirate cruise, he turned 6 just about 2 months ago....
