tell me about the dinners (other than the menu's)

[roxroses]

our cruise is not for another year and then some, but i have been salivating over the different resturants. do menu's change much?

 

[mketting]

The food was amazing but so was the atmosphere. Each in our group liked a different one the best.

My aunt loved the colors and less formal Parrot Cay, she liked their menu the best.

The kids all loved Animators Palate and watching the room change from Black and White to color and watching the different screen change, even the waiters chaged their vests. The music also changed as different pictures were colored, dark music for Vvillians and lighter music for the "babies" somba, bambi etc..

My Mom and I loved the more formal Tritons.

Dessert was very good everywhere. Our last night at Parrot Cay the servers all came out with Baked Alaska it was quite a sight.
My favorite was the chocalate lovers dessert at Parrot Cay.

The night we were at Tritons I took my daughter to the club when she finished and missed ordering dessert. My aunt jokingly said I would take one of each. WELL, our awsome server Jan did just that!! I got one of everything!! I of course shared but when I left that night I thought I would burst!

 

[roxroses]

one of each???...i couldn't, (well maybe)

thanks mketting

 

[hsteacher]

If we don't talk about the food, then the calories don't count when we are there right??? LOL

You will be treated wonderfully by your servers -- if you like Sweet & Low instead of NutraSweet, they remember. If your child likes a cherry in their coke, they remember. It is truly amazing and the service is awesome -- makes is difficult to go home where I am the server

Dinner usually takes about 2 hours. I've only had late seating though and there are usually younger children at first seating so maybe it doesn't take quite that long at the earlier seating.

The dining rooms are each themed differently and there is something special about each one. Remember if you don't see it on the menu, just ask. They bend over backwards to get you what you want. My mom loved the creme brulee from Tritons and really wanted it again the nest night at Animator's, so they brought it for her!!!

I was hesitant about table mates and how that would work but Disney has always placed us with people who either had children in the approximate age of ours and/or with people that had similar professions as ours. We have always found our tablemates to be easy to talk to.

Palo is not to miss if you can. It is a wonderful Adult Only dining room and my husband, my 18 DD and I had the most awesome "adult" dinner last year. We have great memories and pictures. I highly suggest the fruit pizza for dessert but everyone else loves the choc. souffle -- oops, I talked about food calories for me

Have a wonderful cruise!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Everytime I hear dinner is about 2hrs it blows my mind. Does it really have to take that long? I think the longest we've ever taken to eat dinner out was about an hour and 15min- maybe 1.5hrs at most and that is RARELY.... 2hrs just boggles my mind. I'm not even worried about my children making it through a dinner that long- I'm worried about MYSELF making it through it. LOL

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Bibbidy...

It doesn't have to take that long and I think for the early seating doesn't for many. We tended to be among the last one's out and that was ok with our servers. Although the kids might have left earlier a couple of times to meet back up with friends.

DH & I always finished off with coffee. One thing to keep in mind is that if you rush too fast you may not enjoy as many of the "shows". There was always something going on in each dining room each evening - usually "between" the main course and dessert. Many times I saw a large number of guests rushing off before that happened. Also when other diners were in a rush it made it a bit more difficult for the servers. Although if you weren't looking for that it wouldn't be apparent.

Deb

 

[tinarena2000]

As far as your table mates , how does Disney know what you you do for a living? As to seat you with people of the same work.
I would lke to meet others not in my line of work. I don't want to talk about my work, It's boring. LOL
Just wondering.
Tina

 

[crisi]

Early seating took about two hours as well. And it took every minute for us. Even if you are prone to rushing it, your servers may not be (although you should let them know, I'm sure they'll accomodate you). We were often the last table our servers dealt with to get dessert (but we often had someone running off halfway through their entree to get kids to the potty or answer a page from the club).

Keep in mind you are talking four courses. You'll arrive shortly after 6:00. Someone will get you drinks and menus - but it will be 6:15 or 6:20 before everyone's order gets taken - there are 400 some people to get into the restaurant, get seated, get drinks and menus (of course, you don't wait for the stragglers). Which really only leaves you about 20 minutes per course. The first two courses move faster, the last two are a little slower, but its a lot of plates put in front of you in 2 hours.

 

[tkd lisa]

One of the questions that hasn't been answered is how much the menus change. Our first cruise was May 2002, and I'd say the current menus are probably 80% the same as they were then. You'll see some changes mentioned here (sea-bass became endangered, so the replaced it in one of their menus, etc.) and some of them just happen.

Another thing no one has mentioned is that they bring bread out with your drinks. For my DS, he usually ends up filling up on the bread then takes a bite or two of his main course and a bit of dessert and he's done! We almost always go through at least two baskets of the bread!

We've always had late seating, and yes, it usually does take about 2 hours to get through dinner. For kids, they can bring their food out a little quicker if they want to go to their clubs, but overall, it's part of the cruise experience.

 

[roxroses]

thanks everyone!!!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

One more note here..I didn't know about Disney placing people w/similar professions, but I DID notice (maybe just coincidence) that on our two previous cruises, we were placed w/parents being of similar age. (Kids as well.) Maybe it's not as much of an issue to the 20-30 somethings, but DH and I were 'late parents' (LOL!) thus, having only one child, as were our companions. We seemed to have much in common for that very reason, which made dinner topics very enjoyable!

 

[crisi]

We were also seated with parents around our age with children near the same age. We were both from the Midwest. We didn't share professions (and I've never told Disney what I do - so I don't think they could). They were in a similar category stateroom as well.

 

[jrabbit]

One of my favorite foods was the Coconut Shrimp as an appetizer in Parrot Cay. No longer on the menu

 

[mketting]

Dinner is long but very enjoyable. They bring the kids meals out early so 3 of the nights I took my daughter to the kids club while we finished dinner and then picked her up for the shows. Being at the early seating made it a little rushed before dinner at times but it made the rest of the evening very relaxing.

If we had been in the late seating I may have been more apt to skip a show instead of moving to get ready in time.

After seeing the shows I can teel you you don't want to mis one!!

 

[il-gander]

Do you suppose they still bring the kids' meals early if they order from the adult menu? Our DDs will almost certainly be doing that - they're much more interested in "real" food than hot dogs and chicken fingers. We had a hard time in WDW last summer because that is all that is ever offered for kids' meals (like most restaurants in the real world, LOL) and they always wanted to get something else!

Carla

 

[mmouse37]

This pic says it all....except I counted wrong....we actually had 10 dinners for 6 people!!!

http://community.webshots.com/photo/118565870/118569711MGXGZy

DCL servers go out of their way to make you happy...not sure of an entree...no problem they will bring out a few for you to try!!! WE had blast!!!

MJ

 

[pooh luver]

My DS ordered from the adult menu most nights and he got his when we got ours. He always started with a smoothy though so it held him. I like that dinner was relaxed because at home it never is. Our server always was ready and we didn't have a lot of time between courses. On the last cruise we sat with a fabulous family whose children were all older than mine but it worked really well. Dinner is more than eating, it really is an event.