WDW Dining Reports -- 1/21 - 1/28/06

[kiddoc]

We (Me, DH, DD6, and DD4) just returned from WDW on dining plan. I thoroughly enjoyed reading restaurant reviews before our trip, so I thought I'd do my own report. I'll probably do just one day at a time, depending on my mood!!!

1/21/06 -- We arrived in Orlando at 10:30 am and were in EPCOT at 12:30 after DME transport. First day, we had CS only meals. Lunch was at Electric Umbrella. DH and I both had the bacon cheeseburgers and french fries. It was pretty good, but nothing outstanding. DD's both had mac and cheese -- again, just okay. DD4 had a brownie for dessert. It was no sugar added and a bit dry and bland. The rest of us had cheesecake. I am a big cheesecake fan and was pretty disappointed in this slice. The strawberry sauce helped it alot.
Dinner was a quick hot dog and fries from the cart at the Boardwalk. Nothing exciting. Just your average fast food. Basically, it was the quickest thing we could find before early bedtime at BC after arising at 3am for our flight in!!

1/22/06 -- Lunch was my favorite CS in WDW - Casey's in MK! Like other posters have stated, their hot dogs are just better than anywhere else. That combined with the french fries with the cheddar cheese sauce from the toppings bar makes for a great meal. It's amazing how canned cheese sauce becomes a wonderfully appealing meal at WDW. It's just the Disney magic, I guess. For dessert us girls had the brownies which were OK. DH opted for the classic Cracker Jacks.
Dinner was at Whispering Canyon. Neither DD ordered an appetizer as there was nothing that they wanted. For their entrees they both once again ate mac and cheese. I believe they might starve without mac and cheese and hot dogs! DH and I ordered the all you can eat skillet, which included ribs, chicken, sausage, pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and baked beans. We both really enjoyed this meal. The ribs were wonderful! The mashed potatoes were excellent also. Of course, we all had bottomless milkshakes in orange and vanilla. For dessert, I had the caramel apple pie with ice cream. It was very good, but could have been warmer. DH had the banana "dust bowl" which he said was pretty good also. Overall, we really like the atmosphere at Whispering Canyon and thought the food was great.

I'll post more later.

 

[Minniespal]

Sounds fantastic ~ Can't wait to read more.

 

[Montana Minnies]

Couldn't sleep and I read your review, now I am hungry.

 

[kiddoc]

Okay, here goes some more...
1/23/06 -- We had "breakfast in bed" for my birthday today. We ordered room service at BC. DD6 and I had Mickey Waffles, DH had a fruit plate, and DD4 had -- classic 4-yr-old cuisine -- Fruit Loops. The food arrived exactly at our requested time and was warm and wonderful. The adult Mickey waffle plate was one large waffle and 4 slices of bacon. The child Mickey waffle plate was two small waffles and no meat. The fruit plate included melons, grapes, and strawberries. We really enjoyed this -- our first ever room service at WDW!
We skipped lunch today due to our late breakfast and enjoyed Mickey premium bars for a snack while waiting to see Playhouse Disney this afternoon.
For dinner, we had ADR at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre. Bad news on our arrival -- the restaurant was closed due to "technical difficulty". Our DD's were VERY disappointed to miss dinner in the cars. However, a little pixie dust, we were offered ADR at Mama Melrose', Hollywood & Vine, or Brown Derby as a substitute. Due to the problems at Sci-Fi, we were offered Brown Derby for 1 TS credit instead of the usual 2!!! That turned out to be an offer we couldn't refuse. DD's both had, again, Mac and Cheese. DH had the Thai Noodle Bowl with the coconut crusted tofu. He loved the noodles and vegetables, but he didn't care for the tofu. I had the Sesame Seared salmon with the wasabi mashed potatoes. It was wonderful! For dessert I had the cream brulee which was pretty good. DH had the cheesecake which he thought was OK. Both DD's had some type of sundae -- I don't remember the details. Overall, a wonderful dining experience at a rare "half-price" deal at WDW.

 

[kiddoc]

1/24/06 -- We spent the day today at Animal Kingdom. For lunch, we all had pizza at Pizzafari. We really like the pizzas there. For dessert both DD's had Minute Maid Frozen lemonade. DH and I had a warm apple tart which was excellent.
Dinner tonight was at Chef Mickey's. Overall, I think their dinner buffet is pretty good. The parmesan mashed potatoes are always a highlight of the meal. The carved meats were excellent -- I had turkey and DH had roast beef. DD's ate pizza, chicken nuggets, and cheese and pepperoni from the salad bar. I love the dessert bar -- I get to try a little of everything. The Key lime tarts were wonderful with raspberries on top. The cheesecake bites, which I really enjoyed last trip, were not very good this time. They seemed a little bland. I also tried a rice krispie treat which was disappointing. It needed more sticky marshmallows! The blueberry cobbler with ice cream was great! Character interaction here was great as always and both DD's had a blast.

 

[kiddoc]

1/25/06 -- We had early breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace this am. This is usually our one early morning activity --we are usually late sleepers! We like to get into MK early one morning and experience the empty park atmosphere. We also LOVE Crystal Palace breakfast. The breakfast lasagna there is absolutely wonderful! If you've never had it, it is a combination of pancakes, custard, sugar, bananas, blueberries, and who knows what else. It is one of our favorite entrees at WDW. In addition, there was plenty of the usual breakfast fare of eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns. There is also a omelet bar, but none of us have ever tried that. The fresh fruit selection is wonderful. Both DD's enjoyed a lot of fruit as well as Pooh and Friends waffles and breakfast pizza. Again, Crystal Palace has great character interaction. With our 8:05 am ADR the restaurant was pretty empty. Each character came to our table twice and our kids had a great time.
For a late lunch, we had our annual "ice cream for lunch" day at Beaches and Cream. Our favorite dessert, No Way Jose! We shared two No Way Jose's and ate to our heart's content. What a fun meal!
For dinner we had CS at Mexico in World Showcase. DH and I had the combination plate with a beef burrito, cheese quesadilla, and chicken enchilada. I was very surprised and pleased with my meal. The last time we ate TS at Mexico both DH and I were very unimpressed. We both enjoyed our meals this time. DD's had a kid-sized beef burrito with tortilla chips and liked them. Dessert was churros which were excellent.
After dinner we used some snack credits for popcorn and cokes to watch Illuminations. A good day overall.

 

[kiddoc]

1/26/06 -- For breakfast we were at Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus. This meal was just OK, not really anything to brag about. The standard breakfast fare of bacon, eggs, sausage, and hashbrown casserole. The caramel breakfast rolls were somewhat dry and not very tasty, in my opinion. The princess interaction was good, except that Jasmine seemed somewhat hurried and not very happy. Jane (from Tarzan), Snow White, Belle, and Mulan were all great and my DD's had a good time. We would probably go back (we did it for the 2nd time this time!) for the characters, but I'm not crazy about the food here.
After breakfast, we scooted over to AK for the EE preview. After 2 rides on EE, we again hit Pizzafari. Everyone had pizza again except DH. He had some type of Italian sandwich that he really enjoyed. It had typical Italian sub meats with caesar salad on top of it. We again had frozen lemonades and apple tarts for dessert.
For dinner, we returned to MK to watch Wishes. DH and I had chicken strips from Cosmic Rays, one of my DH's favorite CS stops. DD's just ate popcorn for dinner --what can I say, I'm a terrible mother! (By the way, we sat at the tables at the closed Tommorowland Terrace restaurant to watch Wishes and thought it was a great view!)

 

[kiddoc]

1/27/06 -- We slept late, as usual, and had poptarts and cereal bars in the room for breakfast. For lunch, we were at CRT. We have had breakfast at CRT before, but this was our first try at lunch. WOW! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal. The appetizer was a sample platter of crab cakes, stuffed dumplings, a cold grilled chicken, and mozarella cheese. All of it was excellent except I didn't care for the chicken. The kids appetizer was carrot and celery sticks with ranch dressing for dipping and cheddar cheese cubes and mozarella cheese sticks. My DD's really enjoyed that. For entrees, both DD's had the pretzel dogs with sweet potato chips. They both seemed to like the pretzel dogs. It tasted the sweet potato chips and really liked them. Both DH and I had Major Domo's favorite pie. For those of you who haven't tried this, it is a shepherd's pie-type entree with a flaky crust, mashed potatoes, shredded beef, sauteed vegetables, and a beur-blanc sauce. It was wonderful! Both DH and I put this at the top for one of our favorite meals this trip. For dessert, DH and I had the only option -- blueberry cobbler. It was really more like a blueberry muffin with a lemon sherbet/sorbet on top. It was pretty good. I had previously ordered the chocolate slipper desserts for the girls and they were wonderfully surprised. They were beautiful, and they tasted really good, too. The slipper was white chocolate with a milk chocolate mousse inside. It was sitting on a cake that tasted somewhat like angel food cake. The plate was served with strawberries and raspberries in a raspberry sauce. Excellent and fun!
For dinner, we were back at MGM and tried out the ABC Comissary for CS meal. DH had a cheeseburger and fries, nothing special. I tried the noodle bowl which was pretty good. My only dislike was that it was full of celery --YUCK! However, the pieces were large so I was able to pick around them. Both DD's had, once again, mac and cheese. Dessert was a strawberry parfait with strawberries, blueberries, and some type of yogurt. It was one of the better CS desserts we had. DD6 had a chocolate mousse which was OK.

 

[kiddoc]

1/28/06 -- Our last day in the World! We started with a late breakfast at O'hana. The character interaction with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto was good. However, they were VERY slow in coming around. We had long since been done with our breakfast before they all came around. The meal, though, was really good. Eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and -- the best --Mickey waffles. We also had biscuits, pineapple bread, croissants, and cinnamon rolls. They also brought a plate of fruit with melons and grapes. DD4 took care of all the fruit by herself. We had been to O'hana once before and I wasn't crazy about it. We tried again because of Lilo and Stitch and I'm really glad I did. We enjoyed the meal and the characters.
For a quick lunch before heading to the airport, we hit Electric Umbrella at EPCOT again. All of us had chicken nuggets or chicken strips and fries this time. Again, good but nothing spectacular. We all chose the chocolate chip cookies for dessert after our less than spectacular experience with the brownies and cheesecake before. The cookies were good -- chewy, like I like them!

Overall, we ate really well and thoroughly enjoyed the meal plan. Total, we saved about $400 over the cost of paying for these meals out of pocket. We would definitely do the DDP again. If for no other reason, we enjoy having everything already paid for before we go. If anyone has any questions about any of the restaurants we tried, I'd be glad to try to answer them.

 

[lillygator]

thanks for your reviews! We would like to try Ohana for the character breakfast!

 

[3princesses4us]

Wow! Loved your reviews. We're taking our 3 girls (almost the same age as your two!) to almost all of the same restaurants you tried. Thanks for differentiating on the breakfasts (whose was better, etc.).
BTW, congrats on the birthday ! I'm dying to eat at Hollywood Brown Derby but DH says not at 2 TS credits! You're so lucky.

 

[CanadianPaco]

If you've never had it, it is a combination of pancakes, custard, sugar, bananas, blueberries, and who knows what else.

Breakfast lasagna! Oh my, I alsmot melted just reading about it!! Thanks!