Sci-Fi Dine-In, Part 2
The girls both ordered the kids macaroni & cheese, which came with two sides. Fries were not listed as a side option for the kids, but they were an option for my meal. Fries are DD9’s favorite food so I told her I’d get fries so she could have mine. Our server overhead this and said he could do fries as a side for the kids, so both kids picked fries and fruit as their sides. DD9 helped me out with food photography for the front row.
I ordered the Flying Saucer Impossible Burger (grilled plant-based burger, grilled portobello mushroom, “cashew-mozarella”, garlic-tomato “aioli”, nut-free pesto, lettuce and tomato). I asked for it without the portobello mushroom but they put it on anyway (there was a pattern there as my app had also come with the cilantro I asked to skip). It would normally have been $2 to upgrade to onion rings as the side instead of fries, but our server told me it was all included since I was on the dining plan. Since DD9 was able to add fries as her sides, I went for the onion rings. But I did not need any more onion rings after the appetizers!
This was really good, but I was already so full. I felt like I had ordered two full entrees between this and the nachos. I ate about half of it and just a couple of onion rings. I really liked the vegan cheese and aioli. There was something weird about the texture, and that’s when I realized (because it was so dark) that they had put mushrooms on the burger even though I asked for it without. I don’t dislike the taste of mushrooms, I dislike the texture. Once I pulled those off, the burger was much better.
My dad ordered the Grilled Chicken Citrus Salad (romaine lettuce, spinach, and arugula, tossed with rainbow tomatoes, tomatoes, candied pecans, cranberries, and feta cheese (no feta on his, please, which it looks like they honored), topped with grilled marinated chicken and a house-made citrus vinaigrette, $19). I’m now convinced maybe our server just couldn’t hear me as well when I ordered, maybe due to the speakers right by me?
My dad said this was really good, and I think he was the smart one, ordering a lighter meal after our heavy appetizers.
My Mom and MIL both ordered the Classic American Burger (signature blend of beef with house-made burger sauce, applewood-smoked bacon, American cheese, shredded lettuce, and marinated heirloom tomato served on a brioche bun, $23). You’ll see theirs looked a little different even though it was the same dish.
My mom said it was very messy to eat because the bun was soaked with sauce and falling apart. She said it was good but way too much food. My MIL also said it was way too much food, but the burger was so good, she finished it. That says a lot about how much she liked the burger!
Pat went with our server’s recommendation and ordered the Pesto Penne Pasta with Chicken (chicken with penne pasta tossed in house-made pesto sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, rainbow cherry tomatoes, grilled artichoke hearts, onion and spinach, $26).
He said it was good, but he thought he would have liked it better with brighter lighting. It was a little weird for all of us to be eating in the dark (especially for some of the messier items). He said the char-grilled flavor of the artichoke was a nice complement to the acidity of the dish.
Overall, we all really enjoyed our food and the experience. It was fun to watch the movie clips (which cycled a few times while we were there, so the loop wasn’t very long, maybe 30 minutes or less?), and it was a unique way to enjoy a meal. My dad thought it was just okay, but the rest of us said we would go back.
DD7 said she didn’t like the movies because she thought it was going to be an actual movie, but it was just video clips, and most of them were “scary with monsters” but she does want to go back for the food. DD9 said she did like the movies. There were a few reviews that had me worried about the movie clips being too scary, but despite DD7’s assessment, they weren’t scary enough to make me wish we had skipped this. That said, if you have a younger child who is sensitive to scary content, I would look for a preview to decide if this is right for your family.
Towards the end of our meal, a new family sat next to us and had some kind of contraption at the front of their car. They had the same server as us, and he asked if that was a 360 camera. They said yes, and he politely asked them to turn it off, saying he preferred to not be recorded, and that he didn’t want to be in TikToks. The mom said she understood that, and they put the camera away. I was glad he said something (I didn’t want to be recorded while eating either) and was also glad that they respected the ask.
We finished eating at 1:03pm, which put this meal just over 1.5 hours. Our server brought out our tickets to Fantasmic for that night, and advised we get there 30-45 minutes ahead of the show. He explained the seating situation. It was just a guaranteed section, not specific reserved seats, and if we didn’t show up at least 30 minutes early, the section would be open to the general public, so make sure to get there early.
I don’t have the full breakdown for our parents’ meals, but for our family of 4, with all 4 Fantasmic packages, the 2 Oreo milkshakes and our 2 alcoholic drinks, our total was $210.86 with tax. We were able to use 4 TS dining credits to pay for the entire bill, so we only paid for the tip out of pocket. That put us at 3 of 16 adult TS used and 2 of 16 kids TS used.
When we left, we thought we’d go see the Indiana Jones show before heading back to our resort for a break. But when we arrived at the theater at 1:06pm for the 1:15pm show, there was a CM out front with a sign that said they were full to capacity. I wonder what time it had filled up.
We were mildly disappointed but knew we could see the show when we came back to the park later in the week, so we headed back to our resort for some rest. We noted that we needed to get to this show much earlier the next HS day to ensure we would have seats.
Real Life Update
Did anyone check out the Northern Lights this weekend? We drove the girls out to a lookout point on Friday night where we could be away from any city lights. We couldn't see many colors with the naked eye (the sky looked only slightly red and purple at times) but we could see the light pillars as they moved. My iPhone camera picked up on more colors, it was really cool!
I was glad we got to meet them
