WDW Dining with our Princess and Stitch! Updated with Cape May Cafe Dinner!

[Ginamarie]

The boat ride to Wilderness Lodge was a relaxing one, and we envied the swimming area as we walked past it. We were a little early, so we took advantage of a photopass photographer who was taking some rustic looking photos. I’m glad we did, since we got so few pictures of our whole family this time around. The photographer was a sweet young girl, and she spent a good while chatting with us since no one else wanted pictures. I’m glad she was so sweet because Ariel actually smiled for those pictures instead of hiding her head.

Then we checked in at the Whispering Canyon Café. Whispering Canyon has always been one of my favorites. I love BBQ food. Unfortunately, I was still too full from lunch to go for the “all you can eat” skillet. Plus, with Stitch being grumpy, I knew I couldn’t easily eat chicken wings and ribs with him in my arms. What a bummer! On the bright side though, it meant that I ordered something I normally wouldn’t, the meatloaf. Buzz ordered the ribs, and Ariel ate off of our plates. Buzz also got a wild berries shake, and I ordered a cherry coke. Our waitress was sweet, but seemed afraid to tease us since we were looking after our kids. I love the teasing though! I wish they would just ask at the beginning of the meal what kind of experience you wanted, so that you could opt in or out of the teasing. Out came the cornbread, and we devoured as much of it as possible. They do good cornbread here, and even Ariel liked to munch on it. Stitch was having one of his grumpy meals this time, which was unfortunate, because I love this place. I ate maybe half of my entrée, which was delicious. The meatloaf was flavored perfectly and had little pieces of sweet red peppers, and the mashed potatoes were so buttery and nice. I didn’t want to waste it, so I got the rest of my meal boxed up with the remainder of the cornbread. I left Buzz and Ariel in the restaurant, and went into the lobby to do more nursing. The lobby at the Wilderness Lodge is gorgeous, and the couches and chairs they have scattered around look rustic and leathery, but they’re comfortable. I could have just napped right there on the couch, though I could hear the horse races going on in the restaurant, which Ariel loved. Buzz took some pictures since I was missing all of the action.



Food: I still love the food at WCC, and have zero complaints about anything we ate. This will be a stop on our next trip for sure, and now I know there are other tasty things on the menu besides the skillet. 5/5

Service/Ambiance: Service was quick but not rushed. The ambiance is good. The restaurant is loud, but that's part of its charm, and I knew what to expect going in. My only gripe, is that I would have liked to play along with the gags. 4.75/5, for having to drink five cokes and still not gotten a gag cup!

 

[Ginamarie]

OK, so we had scheduled a breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, but by the time Thursday night had rolled around, I was thinking we should skip it. The buffets were working out to be pricy for us, and Ariel had been eating so little that it didn't seem worthwhile. I was pretty sure we could see the Little Einsteins by the Playhouse Disney attraction, and that was our main reason for the meal. Plus, I thought we'd be better off hitting attractions when we first got into the park instead of wasting time with breakfast. So I called and cancelled our reservation. We had a quick breakfast at the food court instead, which was cheaper and still hot, fresh and tasty. We got out earlier and were able to do rides instead.

Of course, this meant needing to fill in some lunch during the day. When I cancelled our breakfast reservation I tried to get something at Sci Fi, but nothing was available until WAY too close to our early dinner reservation. I tried again over the phone in the morning and then one more time at the kiosk in the park, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead, we wound up at Toy Story Pizza Planet.

This was my first trip to Pizza Planet. It was crowded. I took the double stroller and found some seats while Buzz got us a couple of pizzas. I had a regular and Buzz got a pepperoni. On the bright side, I went into this meal not expecting much, so I wasn’t disappointed. The pizza was fresh, and.. not what I would consider “pizza”, but it was decent as far as a quick service meal goes. The sauce they use is actually pretty good for what I consider fake pizza. The crust is thicker than a NY style. The cheese was a little on the scarce side for me, but it tasted good. Ariel ate probably 1/3 of my pizza on her own, and had her milk, so all was well in the world. Looking back, this was probably the worst counter service meal we had, since the lines were the longest and the food was just eh, but it still wasn't bad!

Food: 3/5 It was just "good". It filled our tummies and it wasn't expensive, so I really can't complain, but being someone who loves food, it seems like a waste of a meal when you don't love what you're eating!

Ambiance/Service: Here's the funny part to me. I once saw a special that showed how the pizzas are made at Pizza Planet. There's a machine that puts them together, and there are only about three different kinds of pies.. so I'm not sure what caused the long wait here. It was tough to find a table, BUT there were cast members cleaning things off because I didn't see dirty tables around. This place reminded me a lot of a Chuck E Cheese. It was cute and it reminded me of the movie, but I'm not in a rush to go back there.

 

[Ginamarie]

Prime Time

We were a little early for dinner (even for our early reservation) but since we were in the area and feeling hot and hungry we decided to try to check in early. It wound up being no problem at all, and we were seated almost immediately when we checked in. Prime Time is a lot of fun, and we were hoping to be teased, but we got a mild experience here as well. Our “auntie” decided that Buzz and I were the good kids, so all of the shtick was about how good we were and how ma liked us best. The people around us got played on a little, making a honeymooning couple recite new vows and spoon feeding a big guy his vegetables. Funny stuff! I decided to try something new on the menu, the fried chicken, only I substituted some corn for the collard greens. I also got a cherry coke, and Prime Time makes them the right way, with grenadine. Buzz went for the tuna casserole and a strawberry shake. Ariel shared everything and had some milk.

First, let me say, the portions at Prime Time were great. I had half a chicken on my plate and as good a fried chicken as I’ve ever eaten! Great crunchy crust, juicy chicken on the inside, delicious mashed potatoes and buttery corn. Between Ariel and I we ate the entire thing. I should have had Buzz take a picture of the empty plate because it was that completely empty. Buzz also ate all of his casserole and said it was delicious. He even ate the mushrooms, which he normally doesn't like. The shake, which was almost two full glasses worth disappeared between Buzz and Ariel. We should have been stuffed at this point, but instead we ordered desserts! I had dad’s sundae- vanilla ice cream wedged between pieces of brownie and topped with a ton of whipped cream, hot fudge, caramel corn, m&ms and a cherry on top. I’m slightly ashamed to admit I ate the whole sundae as well! Buzz ordered the angel food cake with berries. The cake was so light and fluffy and there were strawberries and blueberries all over the plate. Overall, we loved Prime Time. Our one complaint was that the service was slow- pleasant but slow. We were in the restaurant for a long time (almost two hours) and not because we were lingering. In fact, we placed our dessert orders along with our entrees, so it wasn’t a surprise what we wanted at the end of the meal.

I got a few pictures here for the food porn addicts. Gosh, looking at these has me craving that chicken again!









Food: 5/5 Everything was perfect! I've never had a bad entree at Prime Time, and the fried chicken upheld that record. We will definitely be adding this to our next itinerary.

Ambiance/Service: 4.25/5 We had a lot of fun. We could have used more teasing, but like WCC I'd like to see a system here where you check in at the podium and let them know you're game for the teasing so that the wait staff isn't afraid to play with you. The ambiance here is great. I love the kitchen table feeling and the old sitcoms playing in the background. I'm marking this down only because of the slow service.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

You have such a cute family!

I'm enjoying your reviews!

 

[MelanieC]

Everything is great so far -

 

[Ginamarie]

We checked into Ohana, and I immediately recognized a change from earlier in the week. The furniture had all been brought back into the Tambu Lounge. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I just imagined it was missing the first time. It was so odd!! Chairs and couches and little side tables, all returned to their original places. We checked into the restaurant, and I sat out on one of the newly replaced chairs for a nursing session. Before long, we were seated in the rear portion of the restaurant. I’d never sat in that area before (behind the grill) but I didn’t mind it for breakfast, but think it may have taken away from the dinner experience to sit there. DH said that our old friends “the eleven thousand dollar vacation family” also checked into Ohana around the same time. I’m sure they weren’t having as much fun as we were though! As we walked to our table, the waiter picked up a basket of pineapple coconut bread to bring to our table. Oh was that bread good!! Later in the meal I asked for seconds, and then thirds. The bread is sweet, like Easter Bread, but with coconut baked into it and chunks of delicious pineapple. I ordered some juice, DH got a pot of coffee, and Ariel got her old standby- milk in a bottle. The first thing to come out were Mickey waffles- one for each of us. They even put one on a plate for Stitch, which I ate. Then came a platter with eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes. Everything was fresh and hot and well prepared. I ate quite a bit of bacon, because for some reason my fork kept creeping over to the platter and stealing more food. We saw Pluto right away, and then Lilo soon afterwards. Then they did a parade around the restaurant. Ariel was getting used to these parades by now, and, as usual, saddled herself right up behind Mickey Mouse with her maraca. After the parade we were visited by Stitch and then Mickey. Ariel was so excited about seeing Stitch and showing him her Stitch doll, she held the doll right up as he approached the table, and Stitch acted all proud that she was carrying him around. DS had one of his better meal experiences, and only got cranky towards the end of breakfast.







Overall, we enjoyed this meal a lot. It was a fun breakfast and the food was good. Plus, I'm a sucker for anything at the Polynesian.

Food: 4.75/5 This was your basic Disney breakfast food, but well done. I loved the addition of the pineapple bread and the Mickey waffles. I'm marking it down a little bit just because they could have come around again with more waffles or had a little more variety with the food.

Service: 4.5/5 Our waiter wasn't overly friendly, and we didn't see that much of him, but our drinks were never empty and he was always around to bring me more pineapple bread. So no complaints here.

 

[wvdislover]

Great reviews so far! I'm thinking about doing Ohana's for b'fast (as well as dinner, too)...could you have gotten more waffles than they gave you? That may be all DD11 eats for b'fast

 

[dmaz]

Love your reviews. Glad to see you're enjoying your meals, even though Stitch doesn't seem to have made it easy!

 

[Ginamarie]

Great reviews so far! I'm thinking about doing Ohana's for b'fast (as well as dinner, too)...could you have gotten more waffles than they gave you? That may be all DD11 eats for b'fast

I'm sure you could have gotten more if you asked, but I didn't think of it. Each time I saw the waiter I was too anxious to ask for more pineapple bread! That's why I would have liked it if they walked around with the waffle basket again- it would have made me remember to eat another one.

Love your reviews. Glad to see you're enjoying your meals, even though Stitch doesn't seem to have made it easy!

Yeah, we ate really well! The baby wasn't too tough. I expected it to be a little difficult eating with him. I had no practice though, since we don't usually eat out at home.

 

[Ginamarie]

By the afternoon, we'd moved back to POFQ to spend some time in the pool.
Meanwhile, I decided it was a good time to get a drink at Mardi Grogs. So I got a pina colada for myself and a pina colava (with raspberry puree) for DH. Yummo! They really know how to make a drink at that bar. It was sweet, but not too sweet and not too boozy but not too weak. Also, they grinded it perfectly smooth so you could drink every little morsel of it without having any trouble getting it through the straw or losing out because there’s too much ice.



Five stars for this drink!! I will have no hesitation about going back to Mardi Grogs. I had a few cocktails on this vacation, but this one was the best.

 

[Ginamarie]

First, I forgot to mention, before we made our way to the pool, we stopped at the POFQ food court to get something for Ariel. She opted for the hot dog platter which was huge and delicious. I only got a little bite and a couple of fries, but it was a good little bite

For dinner, we went to the Cape May Cafe, one of our "must do" meals. We found the Cape May Cafe on our honeymoon. We'd driven from NY to FL right after our wedding, arrived at our hotel, and I thought we were too tired to make our way to the California Grill, so I made last minute ADRs at the Cape May Cafe, hearing they had a seafood buffet and thinking DH would like it. Well he did! We've been back to Cape May on every trip since, and we STILL haven't been to the California Grill.

Getting to the Cafe was a pain though, AND DH had forgotten our park tickets which we needed in order to see Spectromagic afterwards, so we split up and I checked into the restaurant on my own, saying he'd be along behind me. Meanwhile, Ariel fell asleep on her way to the restaurant and was NOT getting up. Good thing she'd already eaten some food!

They gave us a great table with plenty of room for the double stroller, which was great because Ariel slept through the entire meal and then some. Cape May was great, as usual. The shrimp were a little smaller than I’d remembered, but they tasted great, and I’m always a sucker for the cornbread with melted butter. I also loved the kids mac and cheese, which was not your regular orange fake cheese, but real delicious cheeses. I think I had three servings of that. Oh, and the carving station was awesome, because I asked for the end piece and I got a big hunk of meat each time all charred and delicious, just the way I like it! I may be the only person who likes the end piece of the meat, but that’s ok with me. Buzz ate a bunch of clams, as they are his favorite, and I think he had some of the clam chowder and some other things as well. I loaded up on desserts (a piece of brownie and cookies) and DH had a bunch of the miniature pastry things and some warm apple crisp, which looked really good. I was just too full to try it myself. I wasn't all that interested in the pasta entrees they had that night, but no matter- my mac and cheese satisfied the pasta craving.
My one disappointment was that they no longer have lemonade at Cape May, just a Minute Maid Light Lemonade, which was not what I was looking for. I had a coke instead. Our waitress was a sweetheart and did a great job, and we left the restaurant with our bellies full again.


Reviews:

Food: 5/5 This was exactly what we were looking for. I always go in there thinking that I won't eat TOO much because I don't eat clams or mussels, but there are always a couple of really great things at the buffet, which keep me happily fed.

Service/Ambiance: 5/5 Service was great. They were able to accommodate our late arrival, due to DH having to go back to POFQ for our missing tickets and they got us a table with plenty of room for a sleepy child in her stroller. I love the beach resort feel of the restaurant and I actually enjoyed waiting for DH in the lobby area in a nice comfy chair. Our waitress was friendly and bubbly and kept our plates cleared and our drinks from getting empty.

I'm 100% sure this restaurant will be included on our next trip, even though it's a pain to get there from POFQ.

 

[Ginamarie]

OK, we made it up to Sunday morning!

We bussed to Epcot, walked to the gates and checked in for our breakfast. We were running a tiny bit late, but I think that happens a lot with these early breakfast reservations, especially because you have the long walk from the gate up to the Norway area. I tried to snap a couple of pictures on the fly since the Flower and Garden exhibits were so beautiful that early in the morning. We checked in at the podium and had a short wait outside. We were surrounded by princesses at this point, so many little girls in their outfits, including my own little Ariel. I snapped more photos. They called our name, and we got to wait on another line for a photo with Belle. This is another spot where the photo is included in the price of the meal, so we waited it out. Unfortunately, the photo they got of DD and Belle wasn’t very good- DD has droopy eyes in it. I should have complained and had them take a new one, but I didn’t. We got seats in the middle portion of the restaurant, not far from the entrance/exit. I never made it to the cold bar, since I had Stitch on my lap, but Buzz and Ariel went over there and loaded up on fruit and pastries, including a bunch of pineapple for me and strawberries for all. We ordered some orange juice and coffee for Buzz and milk for Ariel, and then out came the platter of breakfast food. Eggs and bacon were good, but just as expected and just like we’d gotten at our other breakfast meals. The great part of this meal though is the potato casserole, which I ate and ate and requested some more of, and ate some more! Those cheesy potatoes are just too delicious, scalloped nice and thin, but with a little bit of bite left in them, and with gooey cheese. Yes, this breakfast is a little pricy, but Buzz enjoyed the addition of the fresh fruit and pastries, and, of course, there are princesses. I was a little afraid we might not see Ariel, but she was rotating around the restaurant along with Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. I guess the policy about Cinderella only appearing at her castle or the Grand Floridian is over, because we saw her in Toon Town and in Norway. When I saw that Ariel was walking around, I audibly said “thank goodness!” She was wearing her turquoise dress, which matched up with DD’s mermaid outfit just beautifully. My one criticism is that the princesses seemed a little rushed at this meal. In any case, the food was good and we took Ariel’s costume off as soon as we left the restaurant, because it was hot!



Reviews:

Food- I give it a 4.5 out of five. I like this breakfast because it's a sit down meal, which makes it easy with kids, but they also have the cold bar with fruit and pastries. The cheesy potatoes are the best part (LOVE those). I mark it down only because it's priced SO high for a breakfast.

Ambiance/Service- 4.25/5 No problems with our waitress. She was always around when we needed something and followed up with our check at the end of the meal without a big delay. We also did not feel rushed, as can sometimes be the way at character meals. The tables were spaced out enough so that we weren't cramped. The princesses were sweet, but THEY seemed rushed. Again, I'm going to grump a little about the price and the picture package. Really, if they're going to charge us for the picture package as part of our meal at least they could have taken one that looked decent. The one we got looked terrible, and having five of six copies of the picture (whatever comes in the package) did us no good, because no one would hang that picture or give it to relatives.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

enjoying your reviews. Your kids are so cute. I like end cuts too but my family likes rare or close to rare...I don't like to see red in my meat (I'm the only one in the family so when they cook I have to tell them burn mine and it comes close to medium)

 

[CherylA]

Then we checked in at the Whispering Canyon Café. Whispering Canyon has always been one of my favorites. I love BBQ food. Unfortunately, I was still too full from lunch to go for the “all you can eat” skillet. Plus, with Stitch being grumpy, I knew I couldn’t easily eat chicken wings and ribs with him in my arms. What a bummer! On the bright side though, it meant that I ordered something I normally wouldn’t, the meatloaf. Buzz ordered the ribs, and Ariel ate off of our plates. Buzz also got a wild berries shake, and I ordered a cherry coke. Our waitress was sweet, but seemed afraid to tease us since we were looking after our kids. I love the teasing though! I wish they would just ask at the beginning of the meal what kind of experience you wanted, so that you could opt in or out of the teasing. Out came the cornbread, and we devoured as much of it as possible. They do good cornbread here, and even Ariel liked to munch on it. Stitch was having one of his grumpy meals this time, which was unfortunate, because I love this place. I ate maybe half of my entrée, which was delicious. The meatloaf was flavored perfectly and had little pieces of sweet red peppers, and the mashed potatoes were so buttery and nice. I didn’t want to waste it, so I got the rest of my meal boxed up with the remainder of the cornbread. I left Buzz and Ariel in the restaurant, and went into the lobby to do more nursing. The lobby at the Wilderness Lodge is gorgeous, and the couches and chairs they have scattered around look rustic and leathery, but they’re comfortable. I could have just napped right there on the couch, though I could hear the horse races going on in the restaurant, which Ariel loved. Buzz took some pictures since I was missing all of the action.

While I'm sorry you couldn't stay with your family and enjoy this meal I am glad you didn't get the skillet. Everyone gets the skillet and I've been looking for reviews of some of the other food here. I can't eat a lot so the skillet isn't up my alley. The meatloaf sounds good and I might try that on our trip.

Thanks! Keep up the reviews, they're great!

 

[Alice28]

Very nice reviews. The kids look darling GM- thanks for sharing.

 

[leeann32]

Great reviews! We are excited to try Cape May in Sept.

 

[mefordis]

LOVE the reviews! Your kids are adorable and your husband looks like an all around good guy!

You ate at some great places! Did you skip the DDP because your 3 year old is not a big eater?

 

[DLo]

Enjoying your reviews. Cute family. Appreciate you taking the time to give a score on both food and atmosphere - and saying wether or not you would return. We are staying at BC for the first time. Love B&C. we got lucky last year and got there close to opening (in a slow time of year) and sat right down. We are trying cape may for breakfast but may try to add dinner after your review.
Looking forward to the rest.

 

[dsnymomx2]

loved reading, thanks for the reviews!

 

[disneybound31]

Great reviews.