The Alaskan Disney Dining Expedition - 11 days of Deluxe Dining *Updated 5-20-11*

[Splat25]

Welcome to our food and restaurant review of our recent dining trip to the world from Oct. 5 – 15. We wanted to try some new places during our visit as well as visit some familiar ones. With the deluxe dining plan you get 3 table service credits per day per person – it includes drink (non-alcoholic), appetizer, entrée and dessert.

Our dynamic team consisted of: DH (me), DW, DD (8), and DS (4).

We live all the way up in Fairbanks, Alaska (think middle of Alaska) and as I write this now there is a good couple of inches of fresh snow outside….oh yea!
We stayed for 3 days in Bay Lake Tower and the other 8 days at Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani.

The great and mighty Itinerary!

Oct. 5
The Plaza Lunch - Page 1, Post 2
Kona Café Dinner - Page 2, Post 25

Oct. 6
Kona Café Breakfast - Page 3, Post 35
Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch - Page 3, Post 42
California Grill Dinner - Page 4, Post 58

Oct. 7
Ohana's Breakfast - Page 5, Post 71
Kona Café Lunch
Crystal Palace Dinner

Oct. 8
Breakfast in Room Breakfast
Tusker House Lunch
Boma Dinner

Oct. 9
Tusker House Breakfast
Yak and Yeti Lunch
Jiko Dinner

Oct. 10
Boma Breakfast
T-Rex Lunch
Citricos Dinner

Oct. 11
Play N' Dine Hollywood and Vine Breakfast
Sci Fi Drive In Lunch
Kouzzina Dinner

Oct. 12
Boma Breakfast
Resturant Merrakesh Lunch
Coral Reef Dinner

Oct. 13
Akershus Princess Storybook Dining Breakfast
Chefs de France Lunch
Le Cellier Dinner

Oct. 14
Whispering Canyon Breakfast
50's Prime Time Café Lunch
Mama Melrose Fantasmic package Dinner

Oct. 15
Boma Breakfast
Yak and Yeti Lunch
Sanaa Dinner

Hope you enjoy the food pictures and review - feel free to ask questions and make comments.

 

[Splat25]

The Plaza
Magic Kingdom
Lunch
Oct. 5, 2010

Overview
The plaza is one our rituals we have to go to when we arrive in Disney. We fly on 3 planes for 12 – 14 hours to get to here and just want to take it all in. Due to our flight schedules, we often get to the resort hotel about 8:30 a.m., we pretty much have no choice but to take the red-eye in. After checking in and getting new clothes on (we always pack a 'wake up and refresh' carry on – with a change of clothes and toiletries for everyone, then use the resort restrooms to change, the family restrooms are great for this, just a few minutes and we all feel better are a set to face the day, then we drop the carry on off with bell services), we set off for the Magic Kingdom. To us, the Plaza for lunch is refreshing and exciting since you are in the Magic Kingdom itself with the castle and parades just outside the window.

The plaza used 1 dining credit from the Disney Dining Plan.

Other info: Restrooms are located outside and to the left of the restaurant toward future world. They are pretty close to the restaurant, but those with kids just need to know that it is not in the restaurant itself.
We also had a visit from the Mayor of Main Street, USA. He came in and made a birthday girl an honorary mayor for the day. The kids got a kick out of that and were very happy to participate in the hip-hip-hooray's.
Atmosphere

The restaurant is cool and airy with stylish and elegant Victorian details and scrolling effects. The room itself was clean and nice.

Plaza from our table

The cast member servers are all in old fancy aprons and dresses. We arrived just after they opened for the day so it seemed empty at first. We were seated toward the back left portion of the restaurant.

Plaza Light fixture

The light fixtures are really ornate. I like how even the glass ends carry the curve. It’s very elegant which fits in with the overall style of this restaurant.


Appetizers

My DD ordered the Grilled cheese with grapes. The grapes came out first with our other appetizers. They were good red grapes and were slightly chilled and had a decent crunch. (A few were devoured before the photo was taken)

Kids Grapes

The rest of us including my DS had the Plaza mixed salad. The salad was chilled and served on cold plates. The croutons were really good and added a nice texture change to the salad. The greens were clean and fresh.

Mixed salad

Entrées

My DS ordered the Turkey sandwich and proceeded to quickly devour one of Mickey’s cute little half tomato ears before I could snap the shot…lol. I really liked the presentation where they cut the bread in a Mickey shape as well. He was a bit moody after the long tip to get here and mostly ate the turkey parts.

Mickey's turkey sandwich with apple wedges & fries

DD ordered the grilled cheese sandwich meal and it looked great. The bread was grilled just right and she liked it quite a bit. She usually doesn’t eat too many fries, even when she asks for them, but as I recall they were decent as well. One thing I like about the Plaza is that they bring out a little plate of chilled condiments in these little cups, so we each had what we needed without playing with bottles on the table.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

DW - This was a good sandwich. It has a nice balance of steak to veggies to cheese. There were plenty of peppers, mushrooms and onions. The steak was seasoned nicely and tender. And the cheese was nicely melted and gooey. The bread was soft and a good contrast with the meat and veggies. A very tasty sandwich.

Cheese Steak Sandwich

I ordered the Grilled Rueben sandwich with a side of fries. I really liked the marbled rye bread. It was a very good Rueben sandwich with just the right amount of meat. It wasn’t over grilled and by that I mean too crispy – hate it when that happens. The sauerkraut and Swiss cheese were accompaniments to the corned beef and added to the flavors nicely. The fries were crispy on the outside and softer in the middle like they should be. All in all, it was a great lunch meal.

Grilled Reuben


Desserts

Ahh, most assuredly the best part of most any meal – dessert. The kids both ordered the Plaza’s signature kids’ dessert called the Mickeylodeon.

Mickeylodeon

It is basically an upside down vanilla ice cream cone in a sundae cup with cute Mickey ears and sprinkles.

The kids loved it and resorted to eating their desserts by using the cone as an actual scoop/spoon. Too funny!

DW ordered a hot fudge sundae, and had it made with mint chocolate chip ice cream. Glorious! Lots of hot fudge, but not too much, just right with loads of whip cream. Absolutely divine.

I got the brownie sundae. I asked if I could get it with mint chocolate chip instead of vanilla and they said no problem. This thing is HUGE – it’s like a small cake in and of itself. It is kinda like a huge brownie ice cream sandwich on the side toped with ample whipped cream and a cherry. The brownies were chocolaty and moist and the mint ice cream was absolutely delicious. I’m not sure I was able to eat even half of it after my tasty salad and Ruben sandwich. I would definitely get this one again! It’s very shareable in size.

Overall Impression

The Plaza is one probably our favorite restaurant in the Magic Kingdom itself. It is a great place to take a break and it is usually cool and refreshing. The atmosphere is an elegant Victorian which encourages you to slow your pace and take it all in. A note of warning for those who get easily chilled – the AC here is quite cold actually. We loved it, but some might find it a little too cold.


DH Rating 4.5 out of 5
DW Rating 4.2 out of 5

 

[iluvpluto27]

Great first review! Looking forward to the rest.

 

[mlaw]

Great review so far. Your photos are fantastic. Can't wait to read more.

 

[divawife]

Thank you what a wonderful well thought out review!

 

[janeapplemeadow]

Great first review. I really like how you show a bit of the resturaunt as well as the food. I love The Plaza for a first meal, it says, "I'm really at Disney". Lookinf forward to more reviews.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Great review of the Plaza, can't wait to read the rest!

 

[athenna]

Great pics, and I like the way in you report I'm in

 

[bolgers love wdw]

Yum,yum and some more yummm!!!

 

[CanadianPaco]

What a great start!! Can't wait for more!

 

[OhioWDWDuo]

Yeah- I can't wait for the rest of your reviews!

 

[EeyoreEma]

Great start! I can't wait to read (and see!) the rest of your reviews!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Great review of the Plaza, one of our favs! Looking forward to more!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Joining in and great start. Can't wait for more yummy reviews...

 

[gregrmike1]

Great Review! Looking forward to more!

 

[hill6]

Great start. Can't wait to read more. Looks like the window covering has been removed from the renovations.

 

[lynn46356]

I enjoyed your Plaza review, it looks wonderful! Thanks!!!! We have never ate at the Plaza but have an ADR for our December trip!!!!!! I'm especially looking forward to the ice cream. YUMMMMMMMM! Can't wait for the rest of the reviews!!!!

 

[npierce25]

I'm in!!! great review, great pics!

We are going for our 1st trip in feb. we are staying concerge level. (thank goodness for 40% off) Right now we have reg dining, and I am thinking about changing to deluxe because there are so many places we want to try. not sure what to do. It is me and my husband, and our 4 year old daughter. are you stuffed the whole time, is it too much food?

thanks!!!

 

[Roxychica7]

Great pictures and love the set up of your reviews!! I'm in!

 

[Splat25]

npierce25 - We really love all the food experiences at Disney and found ourselves full nearly all the time.

The 3 meals a day on the deluxe can be a ton of food, but you just need to make sure you don't eat too much - especially at the buffets. One thing I liked was how the reservations kept us on a normal schedule and easily lent itself to afternoon breaks back at our resorts.

Another trick is to do breakfast yourself so you can go to the nicer signature places like California grill and Narcoosses thart take 2 credits.