Steelersfan
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2002
- Messages
- 289
Day 3: (Play House Disney at Hollywood and Vine, Pop Century food court)
Breakfast: Hollywood and Vine. We had a reservation at 10:30 for one of the later breakfasts. We had to wait only 2 or 3 minutes but in that time my daughter saw JoJo through the window and she was beside herself in excitement. When we sat down we were surprised that the place was nearly empty. Just a note to folks planning their trips the breakfast places tended to empty out some at around 10:45 so if you can wait to eat I would book them for that time then eat dinner after 6:00 when everyone else already ate.
I know this place gets dissed on these boards all the time, but let me tell you we had a great time. First of all, after reading some reviews I expected to find a few choices at the buffet but that just wasnt the case! There was a very long buffet counter that was loaded with every breakfast item I have ever eaten. There were breads, danishes, croissants, fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, biscuits and gravy, grits, various potatoes, waffles, pancakes and a huge selection of cereals. Trust me, there was plenty from which to choose. The food quality was excellent too. It just didnt have the traditional buffet texture that food sometime gets under the warmer. For example, most buffets have scrambled eggs that have a rubbery feel due to sitting out. This wasnt the case here. They were cooked better than I could so it at home with the plate next to the frying pan. It was clean also. Very, very impressive food.
Here is my first plate of food. I had two more!
I have also heard people say that the characters do not interact well here but that just wasnt the case for us. JoJo, Goliath, June and Leo where there and must have came to our table 3 or 4 times. They really spent time with the kids too. They didnt rush by us at all. I guess if there was a negative (and this wasnt for us) it would be that they were at the table too much and the kids didnt eat. My daughter and niece ate plenty and so did we.
I guess we might have been there at a lucky time to get so much attention. I suppose if it was more crowded, one might feel pressure to run up to the buffet in between character visits but they usually have it so that there is spacing.
My daughter loved all our character meals, but REALLY loved this one. I could tell she enjoyed having all her Playhouse Disney pals practically to herself.
On a side note, our server here was excellent. We had refills immediately and she even danced with the kids, etc. Again, maybe we were fortunate because it was very empty but I can only review it on our experience which was an A+++++.
Dinner: Pop Century Food Court. I will need some forgiveness here because I took the camera back to the room and didnt get pics. We were in a hurry and just wanted to get a quick dinner before heading to AK so we ate here.
I had the meatball sub which was very big and pretty good. I didnt get any chips or fries with it for some reason which was kind of a rip off but it still filled me up pretty well.
My wife had the pizza and she said it was good. I cant remember what my daughter had but she was jumping around like a goofball and wouldnt have eaten it all if Emeril cooked it for her personally.
My parents went with the standard burger and said it was fine. No complaints. I cant remember what my brother had.
A couple of other thoughts from this meal. On the positive, they went out of the way here to meet my nieces gluten allergy. The chef heated up a special pan of oil to cook her fries. I want to say they made her chicken strips in a rice batter too but I might be wrong. I know she had to wait a little but really enjoyed her meal. On the negative side, this place is a zoo! There are unattended kids running everywhere and a ton of teenagers without parents just cutting the drink lines, etc. Most of the people there didnt speak English and tried to use that as an excuse for cutting the lines and such. They pretended to be confused or just mocked you in their own language because they knew you couldnt understand. It is very loud and to be honest, stressful. You couldnt even set down your cup because there was always pop all over the place at the drink stations.
We stayed at All Star Movies twice before and never experienced this. I have vowed that the next time we go we will either stay at Port Orleans or I will use my school teacher discount and stay at the Swan/Dolphin. When staying at a resort like POP I expected it to be full of families like mine (we watch our kids), but it was instead a microcosm of irresponsible parenting!
I know this isnt really a dining thought per se, but this was so bad with obnoxious older kids that our daughter wasnt able to swim in the big pool because of the way these kids were acting. They even invaded the kiddie pool! This was easily the most disappointing aspect of our trip.
More later
Breakfast: Hollywood and Vine. We had a reservation at 10:30 for one of the later breakfasts. We had to wait only 2 or 3 minutes but in that time my daughter saw JoJo through the window and she was beside herself in excitement. When we sat down we were surprised that the place was nearly empty. Just a note to folks planning their trips the breakfast places tended to empty out some at around 10:45 so if you can wait to eat I would book them for that time then eat dinner after 6:00 when everyone else already ate.
I know this place gets dissed on these boards all the time, but let me tell you we had a great time. First of all, after reading some reviews I expected to find a few choices at the buffet but that just wasnt the case! There was a very long buffet counter that was loaded with every breakfast item I have ever eaten. There were breads, danishes, croissants, fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, biscuits and gravy, grits, various potatoes, waffles, pancakes and a huge selection of cereals. Trust me, there was plenty from which to choose. The food quality was excellent too. It just didnt have the traditional buffet texture that food sometime gets under the warmer. For example, most buffets have scrambled eggs that have a rubbery feel due to sitting out. This wasnt the case here. They were cooked better than I could so it at home with the plate next to the frying pan. It was clean also. Very, very impressive food.
Here is my first plate of food. I had two more!
I have also heard people say that the characters do not interact well here but that just wasnt the case for us. JoJo, Goliath, June and Leo where there and must have came to our table 3 or 4 times. They really spent time with the kids too. They didnt rush by us at all. I guess if there was a negative (and this wasnt for us) it would be that they were at the table too much and the kids didnt eat. My daughter and niece ate plenty and so did we.
I guess we might have been there at a lucky time to get so much attention. I suppose if it was more crowded, one might feel pressure to run up to the buffet in between character visits but they usually have it so that there is spacing.
My daughter loved all our character meals, but REALLY loved this one. I could tell she enjoyed having all her Playhouse Disney pals practically to herself.
On a side note, our server here was excellent. We had refills immediately and she even danced with the kids, etc. Again, maybe we were fortunate because it was very empty but I can only review it on our experience which was an A+++++.
Dinner: Pop Century Food Court. I will need some forgiveness here because I took the camera back to the room and didnt get pics. We were in a hurry and just wanted to get a quick dinner before heading to AK so we ate here.
I had the meatball sub which was very big and pretty good. I didnt get any chips or fries with it for some reason which was kind of a rip off but it still filled me up pretty well.
My wife had the pizza and she said it was good. I cant remember what my daughter had but she was jumping around like a goofball and wouldnt have eaten it all if Emeril cooked it for her personally.
My parents went with the standard burger and said it was fine. No complaints. I cant remember what my brother had.
A couple of other thoughts from this meal. On the positive, they went out of the way here to meet my nieces gluten allergy. The chef heated up a special pan of oil to cook her fries. I want to say they made her chicken strips in a rice batter too but I might be wrong. I know she had to wait a little but really enjoyed her meal. On the negative side, this place is a zoo! There are unattended kids running everywhere and a ton of teenagers without parents just cutting the drink lines, etc. Most of the people there didnt speak English and tried to use that as an excuse for cutting the lines and such. They pretended to be confused or just mocked you in their own language because they knew you couldnt understand. It is very loud and to be honest, stressful. You couldnt even set down your cup because there was always pop all over the place at the drink stations.
We stayed at All Star Movies twice before and never experienced this. I have vowed that the next time we go we will either stay at Port Orleans or I will use my school teacher discount and stay at the Swan/Dolphin. When staying at a resort like POP I expected it to be full of families like mine (we watch our kids), but it was instead a microcosm of irresponsible parenting!
I know this isnt really a dining thought per se, but this was so bad with obnoxious older kids that our daughter wasnt able to swim in the big pool because of the way these kids were acting. They even invaded the kiddie pool! This was easily the most disappointing aspect of our trip.
More later
We ended up at a McDonald's near Universal later that night and I got another chicken sandwich for under $5 that I much preferred to Sci-Fi's. Go figure! 
Our waiter was slow as a snail also, but we also had to wait almost 40 minutes just to be seated (even though we had ADRs). Sci-Fi is not exactly on my "Must Do" list anymore, but I might try it again at some point. But I'll stay away from the chicken next time, I think. 
