The Niece Beast Turns 2 - A Birthdayful Dining Review -New -12/13

[My sister's princess]

Welcome!

We dined our way around "The World" October 25th - November 2, 2014. I'm a serial report non-finisher, but when I post there are tons of photos, and details!

Here my friends is the line up:

Who are these people crazy enough to take a 2 year old?
Airport Food!
Rainforest Café (D)
Chef Mickey PART 2 (B)
Columbia Harbor House (L)
O'Hana (D)
Akershus (B)
Food and Wine (L)
Garden Grill (D)
Mara (B)
Pizza Planet (L)
50s Prime Time (D)
Tusker House (B)
Yak and Yedi (L)
Whispering Canyon (D)
Mara (B)
Be Our Guest (D)
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (S)
Crystal Palace
Pinocchio's Village Hause
Gaston's Tavern (S)
1900 Park Fair (D)
The Mara (B)
Mickey's Backyard BBQ (D)
Boma (B)

Say hey if you are around!

 

[The Big Sister]

I'm here! I'm here!

 

[Disneyaunt4]

Hey Looking forward to your reviews

 

[Carissa 80]

I cannot wait to hear how you liked (or didn't like) some of these places.... especially what you thought of Ohana!!! I got to go to the MNSSHP a few years ago and would love to go again! We had an amazing time.

 

[My sister's princess]

This trip was in the works for well over a year. We headed to Disney to celebrate the 2nd birthday of:




The niece beast.
Jocelyn is the happiest toddler I have ever seen. Much of our family jokes that my sister is raising me with this little ball of energy. Jocelyn is very adventurous with food for someone so young!

Now the people who were crazy enough to take the small child:





This is me, Elizabeth. Certified Disney addict. My office is floor to ceiling Disney, as is a large portion of my home. I also love food, like really really love food.



This is my husband "Unka Josh" according to the niece beast. He humors me in pretty much everything. Josh loves to eat, and is more adventurous than me!



This is Andrea "The Big Sister" here on the Dis. She is the mother of the niece beast and as a result ate most of her meals with one hand.



This is the niece beast's dad, John. John is a southern man who loves a good steak.

 

[My sister's princess]

Airport Food!

Yes I'm reviewing the airport food! We don't have a Chick Fil A in Maine, or a Krispy Kream so of course when we hit Orlando and were STARVING from our early morning journey we stopped in the food court and go this delicious meal!

A Krispy Kream doughnut



and a Chick Fil A nugget meal to share



We enjoyed the view



and soon enough our tummies were happy to finish our journey to the Animal Kingdom Lodge where we would be staying.

 

[disney4metoo]

Great start Elizabeth! That is quite a restaurant line-up. Can't wait to read your reviews.

 

[poohangel]

I love your pictures. Cant wait to hear your reviews on some of the places you all ate out. The niece beast is so adorable.
I love AKL

 

[My sister's princess]

I'm here! I'm here!

Hey Looking forward to your reviews

Glad your here!!!

I cannot wait to hear how you liked (or didn't like) some of these places.... especially what you thought of Ohana!!! I got to go to the MNSSHP a few years ago and would love to go again! We had an amazing time.

Oh I can't wait to talk about O'hana!!!

Great start Elizabeth! That is quite a restaurant line-up. Can't wait to read your reviews.

Glad you are joining in!!!

I love your pictures. Cant wait to hear your reviews on some of the places you all ate out. The niece beast is so adorable.
I love AKL

She really is the cutest thing ever!!!

 

[My sister's princess]

Rainforest Café

After being attacked at the door by the world's cutest niece beast we decided to head out over to Downtown Disney to do a little peeking around before dinner. I worked up a real appetite spending all of Josh's money on bath bombs.

We headed over to a bit early to check in at Rainforest Café. I swear they have the weirdest check in process. We headed strait to the purple elephant and were told they could get us in a bit early, but that we should wait right there. So we explored a bit.






Jocelyn and "Unka Josh" checked out all the fish. We were able to keep her occupied for a full 5 minuets naming the colors of the fish. I consider that a victory.




Just as the toddler started to get antsy we were called into the dining room, and seated directly next to two gorillas and a tunnel. To my delight Jocelyn demanded to sit next to Auntie, so please excuse the focus of some of these photos....


We started with the Crustacean Crab Dip - Our creamy housemade dip of tender crabmeat, peppers, onions and tomatoes. Served with tri-color tortilla chips. $10.99 (allears.net) We had a coupon that we got off Facebook that made it free



I enjoyed my Raspberry Rainfall VERY much!



For Entrees we enjoyed several different things.

Niece beast had the kid's shrimp - Poppin' Shrimp $8.99



Joshua and John both chose to go with the Ribs, Steak & Shrimp - Ribs, Steak and Shrimp Trio - a hearty platter featuring slow roasted St. Louis style pork spare ribs basted with our Smokin' Mojo BBQ sauce, char-grilled flat iron steak topped with steak butter and Caribbean Coconut Shrimp. Served with Safari fries and coleslaw $29.99



Andrea and I both went with new steak and shrimp - Jungle Steak and Shrimp - char-grilled 7 oz. flat iron steak, topped with steak butter and paired with tender shrimp scampi and Safari Shrimp Skewers $26.99 HOWEVER we each subbed in the shrimp en brochette instead of the shrimp skewers.



I had my steak medium rare, and it was fantastic. The butter was good, but there was a bit too much of it, and I am a big butter fan! Easy enough to fix though I just wiped some off.



The shrimp scampi was also tasty but not on the level of the star of the plate which you see below.



SERIOUSLY the shrimp en brochette were the stars of this plate. There was an upcharge of $4 but it was worth it, so so worth it!




We were too stuffed to have dessert, but niece beast was given a special birthday cupcake treat, which she ate in my lap and got all over me!





We really enjoyed Rainforest Café, and as a result of a rewards program I am in our meal was almost completely paid for with gift cards. Since we don't have a RC in Maine I see this being a place we stop back by in the future.

 

[EmilieK]

Lovely reviews, am looking forward to the rest

 

[pumba]

Loved your review so far...and ready for the rest..

Fellow Mainiac here too...

thanks for doing this ..now come back and do some more..hahaha

 

[My sister's princess]

Lovely reviews, am looking forward to the rest

Thanks! I love having people following along, otherwise I feel like I'm talking to a wall LOL

Loved your review so far...and ready for the rest..

Fellow Mainiac here too...

thanks for doing this ..now come back and do some more..hahaha

Mainers are the best!

 

[pumba]

We have never tried rainforest in dtd or at AK...the atmosphere looks amazing..

We do usually WPC or Earl of Sandwich down that way..

We got good airfare out of Portland for next May...now I am ready willing and able to DISNEY again..

Looking at your places you went to...We love Akershus for breakfast and O'hana for dinner...ready for that repeat...

thanks again

 

[The Big Sister]

This picture of those shrimp makes me want them now. They were so good! Nice pictures munchkin. Sand yes my daughter is quite wonderful but you could have picked a better picture of me lol

 

[My sister's princess]

Chef Mickey

The next morning dawned bright and early for our 7:45 Chef Mickey reservations. This morning also marks the beginning of our bus troubles. We waited, and waited and waited. We asked a few drivers, and finally ended up having to get a cab, because we not only needed to get to Magic Kingdom, we then needed to get to the Contemporary Resort!

Either way, we arrived just a bit early and headed to check in.



The sun was rising, and the sky was beautiful out the windows.



There was a bit of a line, so we had to stand in line to check in, though it moved very quickly.



I love that the buzzer has a trivia question on it!



We waited in line and got our photo done, which was scanned to the Magic Band, SUPER easy!



While we were waiting for our photo our buzzer went off, so as soon as we finished getting our photo we were sat at a lovely round table in the upper level behind the buffet.

All the adults begged for coffee, and Jocelyn had milk. She was also given a birthday card signed by all the characters!



So what happened next almost lead to tears, and not from the toddler... Our waitress told us we had time to go grab food before Mickey and friends would make it to our table, so the girls headed for the buffet and the boys stayed with the niece beast. We did not have time

We missed Mickey


Yeah...

I let the handler know, and Mickey makes another appearance a bit later but my sister was upset, and I don't blame her! I know they do their best with the seating and the characters, but this was a miss!

Jocelyn enjoyed her first Mickey waffle while the guys got their plates




And Mickey returned, so Jocelyn tried to feed him.



Goofy came quickly behind Mickey. The guys missed him, but I think they were ok with that...



Donald was next on our list (I swear there are food photos, they are coming)



And of course Minnie was a big hit with the niece beast!



Continued

 

[My sister's princess]

Chef Mickey PART 2

The character flow continued almost non-stop until Pluto arrived



And since apparently Chef Mickey hates the idea of me getting more than one bite at a time, as soon as Pluto was done saying hi, it was time to celebrate! Jocelyn insisted that Auntie dance with her (like I was going to say no to that face!!!) Pluto must have thought niece beast was adorable because he danced with us the whole time!





As you can see the tables around us really weren't interested in the character's celebration So I didn't feel bad that we were kinda hogging Pluto.

At some point in the celebration they brought Jocelyn a birthday cupcake!



It was at this point that I finally ate more than one bite in a row. I'm not complaining though, I love that Jocelyn wanted to sit with me, I love that she loved the characters so much, and I love that we had such great interaction for her on her first morning in Disney. Really for us the price of the character meals is more than worth the ability to see Mickey and pals while having hot coffee brought directly too us, and tater tots to stuff ourselves on.

And apparently I lied above. Some how in all of that I didn't get any food photos I apologize. Don't worry there are more photos of buffets coming than you could ever hope for.

We love Chef Mickey for breakfast. A few years ago just Josh and I went and decided to skip a year or two and I think that made it even more special this time. I know that in the future we will back

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

Took my daughter to WDW for the first time when she was a month past 3 so I totally understand it takes an energy level and a degree of crazy to take someone that young but what special memories we made. It's lovely to be with someone who sees Mickey and is delighted and the video clip at Epcot when we asked her "Where are you?" and she looked at us like we were insane and said "I'm right here" was priceless. I can't wait to read about your adventures! it looks like a lovely time and she is completely adorable.

 

[poohangel]

I love Chef Mickey's. Not especially for the food but the characters are wonderful. So glad you had a great start to your vacation.

 

[My sister's princess]

Took my daughter to WDW for the first time when she was a month past 3 so I totally understand it takes an energy level and a degree of crazy to take someone that young but what special memories we made. It's lovely to be with someone who sees Mickey and is delighted and the video clip at Epcot when we asked her "Where are you?" and she looked at us like we were insane and said "I'm right here" was priceless. I can't wait to read about your adventures! it looks like a lovely time and she is completely adorable.

Jocelyn kept asking to go to Disneyworld while we were there, it was quite funny.

I love Chef Mickey's. Not especially for the food but the characters are wonderful. So glad you had a great start to your vacation.

Exactly, the food is ok, but the experience of it is what makes it worth that sticker price!