Vittles A Go-Go: Hicks on Holiday - Update 2/14/09, pg 18 COMPLETE!

[dtr_angel]

wow I just read through your dining review and found it very entertaining. You have an amazing family!

 

[DisneyMom5]

wow I just read through your dining review and found it very entertaining. You have an amazing family!

Thanks! Sorry I haven't completed it yet. Almost finished.
Trip report needs a little more work, but new readers are always welcome!

Congrats on the new home!

Thanks for reading!

 

[dtr_angel]

Thanks! Sorry I haven't completed it yet. Almost finished.
Trip report needs a little more work, but new readers are always welcome!

Congrats on the new home!

Thanks for reading!

Well it's very understandable (is that a word?) that it took you so long to get it done. My hubby would love to read this, he is an english major.

Thanks! Getting this house makes me want to fill it with kids, but probably not 7 lol.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

dtr_angel, if you want to fill that new home of yours with children I encourage you to take tips from MOM (Mom of Many). Her laid back attitude, loving direction and wonderful sense of humor are the best arsenals in being able to not only cope but enjoy raising such a large family. Amazing children usually have amazing parents, and grandparents.

SG

I forgot to mention that she is also over the top in being nice.

 

[DisneyMom5]

Magic Kingdom - Crystal Palace - Dinner

I only have one more restaurant to review,
and I thought I'd post it and get this thread done with.
I hope to be pretripping in a couple of months! : )
I will be starting a new thread to continue my trip report,
as that is apparently locked or something.
My bad for not being consistent.

But I do plan on finishing that up too, so bear with me and keep your eyes peeled.

I have no recollection of where we ate lunch our last day???

So I'm moving right on to dinner.

We had eaten breakfast at Crystal Palace twice,
and lunch on our last trip, and decided to eat dinner there this time.

Dinner was very much the same as lunch.
I'm not quite sure what the difference is.

The character interaction was good as usual,
and we really enjoyed the food!

Hey, is that Pooh???

The characters are great, but we want some food!

Mom's just along for the ride...

Hey Piglet, do you remember us? We were just here for breakfast last week?

Eyeore is my favorite! [More on that in a minute!]

Eyeore and the crew

The oldest two were jaded at this point. The younger crew with Pooh!

I remember tasting all the soups here. All were very good.
There was a cream of potato, and while I liked it,
it still could not beat the potato leek soup at Rose and Crown!

I love the variety of salads and different ethnic style food,
as these are items I don't have access to on a daily basis.

They were carving flank steak,
and my one complaint is that they give you a couple of strips
the size of skinny bacon and expect that to hold you over.
If I'm asking for beef, give me some BEEF! LOL

[Oh, wait. I thought of my other complaint.
Eyeore was....SWEATY.
Yup, I said it.
I put my arm around his hairy hide,
only to realize it was soaking wet.
EWWWWWWW!
I did a good job of hiding my astonishment in the photo, no?

I won't be so quick to hug costumed characters any time soon.
Sigh.]

Otherwise the hot food was very nice.
The corn spoon bread is to die for.
I even tried a salmon dish and liked it, and usually that's not the case.

The desserts were good.
As I have said before,
I have yet to be totally wowed by any dessert at WDW
(though I DID like the Sticky Toffee Pudding very much),
especially the desserts on buffets.

But by the time we got to the desserts,
I was too stuffed to care anyway.
There was a peanut butter dessert that was WAY too sweet.
Otherwise, everything was pretty tasty.

I love buffets purely for the reason that I can try a variety of foods at no extra cost to myself.
And if you are in the mood for a buffet, Crystal Palace is a nice choice.
Of the sit down restaurants in MK, it's the one that I consistantly see good reviews for.

Timing is everything.
Book your meal for an off time: late breakfast, early or late lunch, early dinner.
Of the three, I can now officially state that I prefer breakfast.
But that is not due to anything lacking in the other two meals.

It is purely a matter of my liking breakfast a whole lot,
and the fact that Crystal Palace does breakfast really well.

So, that's my last food report this time around.

Happy to answer any questions!

[Hoping the Free Dining Fairy stops by my house,
so I can regale you with future dining options! LOL]

Thanks for sticking with me and reading!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

I thought I was the only one who got a bit tired of the characters and just wanted to get to the food.

I love buffets because I can try one bite of several things.

Take a tip from my dh, if they try to offer him a sliver of meat he just stands there, like Oliver Twist, until they load up his plate. He even orders TWO, or more, meals when on a cruise.

As bad as I am when I meet one cute kid if I were ever seated beside your family I might just tag along the rest of the day. Doubt you would notice one more 'kid' though.

I am dreaming of Free Dining in December. I hope, I hope.

If they came out with it early enough would you consider changing your dates? What a lovely time for you all to be there.

SG/Linda

 

[akayek31]

I am eexcited to go to Crystal Palace on our trip in May. It is the one place that my 16 yr old DS refuses to give up because he wants to meet pooh. His nickname as a baby was pooh bear and that is his reasoning for meeting him . I loved reading your report and can't wait for the PTR.

 

[DisneyMom5]

I thought I was the only one who got a bit tired of the characters and just wanted to get to the food.

I love buffets because I can try one bite of several things.

Take a tip from my dh, if they try to offer him a sliver of meat he just stands there, like Oliver Twist, until they load up his plate. He even orders TWO, or more, meals when on a cruise.

As bad as I am when I meet one cute kid if I were ever seated beside your family I might just tag along the rest of the day. Doubt you would notice one more 'kid' though.

I am dreaming of Free Dining in December. I hope, I hope.

If they came out with it early enough would you consider changing your dates? What a lovely time for you all to be there.

SG/Linda

Welllllllll.....
We've talked about December before. Not sure what John's (dh's) take on free dining in December would be. I think that at the moment it would be complicated with all the family obligations.

I guess if it came out before SIL booked her airfare, it might be an option!

Free dining at any time is just too good to pass up!

I am eexcited to go to Crystal Palace on our trip in May. It is the one place that my 16 yr old DS refuses to give up because he wants to meet pooh. His nickname as a baby was pooh bear and that is his reasoning for meeting him . I loved reading your report and can't wait for the PTR.

Thanks for reading! You'll love Crystal Palace!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

I know what I want for Christmas this year! I am keeping my fingers crossed that they come out with Free Dining in Nov/Dec so that you all can go and see the decorations.

There is no way that your husband can object to cheaper prices, lower crowds, free food and Santa Claus, not to mention the CP, Osborne Lights etc. No weekend upcharge either.

It is the best time of the year to go. I am already making plans to do my cards early and plan on giving most everyone cash or gift cards so I have nothing to wrap. Bet you could get the kids into gear to decorate before you leave even. Just a thought, a wonderful thought.

I am not sure when Free Dining came out for that time period last year but I know it was not a long time after I came back from my September trip and the codes seem to be running early this year.

SG

 

[Myhappythought5]

Puffed...French...Toast...drooooooooool,
Pork Trifecta,
And a little Pooh for Good Measure
Crystal Palace - Magic Kingdom
Sept. 21, 2007

When we last left the Hungry Hicks,
they had eaten at Chef Mickey’s during a thunderstorm,
and narrowly avoided an international incident
involving the Head Mouse himself.

The next morning, we were all feeling a bit glum
as it was to be Bionic SIL and kids last day at WDW.
We planned a Little Ones AM EMH at MK.

[I think this program has been discontinued,
but it was an extra hour in Fantasyland only,
geared towards kids under 5.
But any Disney hotel guests were allowed in early.]

We decided to be there at rope drop, hit all of Fantasyland,
and take a break around 10:30 for our brunch ADR at Crystal Palace.

We had planned on eating at Crystal Palace on our very first trip in 2004.
We even had reservations to meet up with my best friend,
who happened to be vacationing down there at the same time.

But, alas, it was not to be,
as DisneyGirl came down with a horrible case of stomach flu.

So, in 2005, we made sure we went there twice,
for breakfast AND for lunch.

We LOVED the breakfast, and thought the lunch was pretty good too.

So, for this trip, we decided to repeat our dual visits,
and hit both breakfast and, this time, dinner.

Bionic SIL’s kids had yet to meet the Hundred Acre Woods Gang,
so this would be a great opportunity.

We arrived at Crystal Palace, and checked in pretty quickly.
I don’t remember waiting on the porch for very long before our pager went off.

As another Dis’er put it, the waiting area for this restaurant is horrific,
looking much like the scene in Gone With the Wind
where all the wounded are lying in the town square of Atlanta.

[Was it Hank Scorpio that said that? Bendy/OyBolshoi?
Anyway, it was funny.]

Everyone is trying to squeeze onto the porch to
A) try to check in at the miniscule check-in window,
and
B) trying to get just a tiny bit of shade.
It is chaos, and I don’t mean the controlled kind.

Everytime we have been there,
we have seen people being turned away as walk ups,
so if you have ANY desire to eat here, make your ADRs!!!

We were led into the dining area,
and seated at the exact same table we had had breakfast at before!
And the table next to it.

Yup, that's Stitch Jr. in the pic:

You could roughly see the castle out the window,
especially when they did the little puffs of fireworks
during the castle show.

Our drinks were brought out quickly,
which seemed to consist of either chocolate milk or orange juice,
with coffee for all of our coffee drinking crew.

Our waitress was from China, and that was pretty neat also.

We then headed up to the buffet to fill our plates.

They have a nice selection of cold and hot here,
and we are never disappointed.

My favorite is the puffed french toast.
I don’t have a picture,
but if you go to the food porn thread you can find several pics of it there.

I’m not sure how it is french toast,
as it pretty much seems like a big puffed hot donut,
but covered in syrup it is to die for.

I also love that you can get the pork trifecta here.



What!?! You haven't heard of the pork trifecta?

Well, I can't find the exact quote in which he deems it the "trifecta,"
but here's a little quote in which Homer
(and I do mean Simpson, not the Greek poet)
sums up how I feel
about cured pork products....

Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again?
What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

Ok, well, technically, he added pork chops, and left out sausage,
which is most correctly part of the pork trifecta, but you get the idea.

Mmmmmmmm.......

Ahh, good times, good times.

Anyway....

I had, on our previous trip,
tried the breakfast lasagna that everyone raves about.

I didn’t like it.

It was a mixture of goop and day old breakfast breads
– pancakes, etc.–
and it had a vaguely fake banana flavoring taste, which I detest.

[Just ask me about how much I like circus peanut candy.
Blech. Yucky. Blah. ]

So I avoided it this time.

And concentrated on all the other good things to be had.

The character interaction here is plentiful and fun.

DangerBoy and Pooh (you can see the buffet in the background of these pics)

Princess K and The Inquisitor and Pooh

The crew and Eyeore (he's my favorite! )

The previously mentioned Hick kids, and Bitsy and Tigger

The Chef and Piglet
(His favorite -- and may I just say, WOW,
has The Chef grown since last Sept.
He probably is all tall as Piglet now. Wow.)

The little Hicks and Piglet (Love the stairsteps. )

They also, like Chef Mickey’s, have a bit of a party moment,
where the kids get to carry flags
and march around the room with the charcters.

Yes, even mature DisneyGirl and Poch Jr. felt the need to march:

Everyone in our group found something to like at Crystal Palace.
And considering the size of our group,
I think that's saying something!

So, there ya go.
If you are in search of tasty breakfast food,
a nice convenient location in Magic Kingdom,
and fun, albeit noisy, atmosphere,
Crystal Palace is the place to go!

Next up: Sunshine, You Are My Sunshine, You Make Me Hungry....
Dinner at the Sunshine Seasons Food Court, Epcot

This for us is our one must do for every Disney trip! I especially like the lunch one because of the marble cheesecake. but our main draw there is the salmon. Yeah they serve salmon at many other places but here there is just something about it.
This is a great dinning report.

 

[DisneyMom5]

This for us is our one must do for every Disney trip! I especially like the lunch one because of the marble cheesecake. but our main draw there is the salmon. Yeah they serve salmon at many other places but here there is just something about it.
This is a great dinning report.

Thanks for reading! I realize I need to take more food pics and notes next time. Always something to improve upon. [And if that's not a reason to go back, what is? LOL]

I'm hoping to finish my actual trip report if I get up the gumption to start it again as a new thread. Sigh.

Thanks for reading everyone! : )

 

[angelmav]

Thanks for the great reviews...now you have me wondering how to fit biergarten and rose & crown into the mix!

 

[DisneyMom5]

Thanks for the great reviews...now you have me wondering how to fit biergarten and rose & crown into the mix!

You know, Biergarten isn't super fancy, but it was just seriously good basic comfort food (especially if your comfort food runs toward the sauerkraut end of things. LOL)

Rose and Crown has a more limited menu, BUT, everything we had was really good. We stuck with the basics, but that's not a bad thing.

Happy Planning!