We ate/drank whatever we wanted- a first time review!

[taramoz]

DH and I found ourselves back at Cosmic Rays, mainly because we were in the area and they have good selection. Plus, we are just bad at knowing where to go at MK. We ate different things this time around!

I knew we had the dessert party later, so I didn’t want to fill up too much, so I ate:

The kid’s meal turkey sandwich with fries and grapes. This was ok, came pre-made right out of a little fridge under the counter (once again, no effort at all on kids food). Definitely better then the nuggets I had the other night, was light, and aside from the fries it was all healthy, which is what I was going for on this meal! DD6 shared the grapes with me.

DH went with:

A burger, add bacon, no cheese with fries. He liked his burger, it hit the spot for him. He said he has nothing bad to say about it, it did the job!

And now for the bottom line:

Would we recommend to a friend? As with before, sure, good selection and lots of seating for a QS place.

Would we eat here again? I am sure we will be back, nothing great, but nothing bad either, besides the kids meals!!!

Cost: I again do not have a receipt, his burger was like $7, and my kids meal was $4.99.

 

[MommytoaSweetie]

I'm appreciating your reviews! Although that thing about the chicken nugget discrepancy is disturbing - we really haven't purchased many kid's meals before (kids young enough to split), but our coming trip DD is on the DDP and there aren't as many choices as I'd like, but I'd certainly rather get the real nuggets versus the processed ones!

 

[exwdwcm]

lol, funny i had just mentioned Pirata Y Perico before you posted that. i have yet to go when it is open in the last 10 years or so. but i have eaten there multiple times when i happened to catch it open (including while on my CP a few times). I mean, it isn't top notch mexican, but was decent and a nice change for the MK. i wish they kept it open more often than just the strict seasonal they do. it shows on one site they are working on it (construction or maintenance type stuff) now apparently, so not sure if that means anything different or not.

 

[taramoz]

I'm appreciating your reviews! Although that thing about the chicken nugget discrepancy is disturbing - we really haven't purchased many kid's meals before (kids young enough to split), but our coming trip DD is on the DDP and there aren't as many choices as I'd like, but I'd certainly rather get the real nuggets versus the processed ones!

I know, the nugget thing really bugged me too. But they did have other options for kids, and this was just my thoughts on this one place, I admit I ate adult food elsewhere so cannot make a general statement about all the kid food. Glad you are liking the reviews!

 

[taramoz]

lol, funny i had just mentioned Pirata Y Perico before you posted that. i have yet to go when it is open in the last 10 years or so. but i have eaten there multiple times when i happened to catch it open (including while on my CP a few times). I mean, it isn't top notch mexican, but was decent and a nice change for the MK. i wish they kept it open more often than just the strict seasonal they do. it shows on one site they are working on it (construction or maintenance type stuff) now apparently, so not sure if that means anything different or not.

Too funny, I see you had mentioned it. I agree with you, not top notch mexican, but good and a nice change from the other QS choices at MK. It woud be good news if they really were working to ave it open more, DD6 and I would definetly eat here for our meal.

 

[stephielela]

It's funnny about those kid nuggets- I actually like them and Jack likes them better than tenders (less breading). It is pretty bad that they don't try harder for kids meals though. When we were at Le Cellier we decided to order Jack his own meal. They had a steak on the menu, but all Jack wanted was a hot dog! No gourmet cuisine for him. Maybe that' swhy they don't try as hard, they know what kids like (at least the younger ones)!

 

[taramoz]

It's funnny about those kid nuggets- I actually like them and Jack likes them better than tenders (less breading). It is pretty bad that they don't try harder for kids meals though. When we were at Le Cellier we decided to order Jack his own meal. They had a steak on the menu, but all Jack wanted was a hot dog! No gourmet cuisine for him. Maybe that' swhy they don't try as hard, they know what kids like (at least the younger ones)!

Yeah, I figured a lot of kids liked the kid food! My kid is the kid wanting the steak at Le Cellier... I have wish she wanted a hotdog alot of times

 

[taramoz]

So after a full day of getting to MK at rope drop and taking no break we were reaching the end of the night and Wish's! We had reservations for the dessert party so we lined up to wait at Tomorrow Land Terrace while they prepared the area. While waiting DD6 fell asleep, I decided to let her rest and I'd wake her for the fireworks and grab a few desserts for her.

And now onto those desserts, there was a lot of selection of sweets!!! We are not huge on sweets, but were ready to dig in as we had planned for this.

My plate:

There is on top a yummy cinnamon cake in that cup, it wasn't labeled but whatever it was it was good. Chocolate covered strawberry, I loved it, went back for more, they are a favorite of mine and these were great, big juicy strawberries covered in thick chocolate. Next chocolate mousse (can you see I like chocolate?), again it was YUM, rich and fluffy. You can see a little truffle on my plate, chocolatety goodness. And finally ended off with creme brule, it was also quite good. Overall, lots of sweets, but yummy. I also drank lemonade, they had tea and coffee too, but I went with lemonade.

DH's plate:

At the top he starts with his favorite, creme brule! He loved it. Then he had that same cinnamon cake thing, grapes, watermelon, and a couple chocolate covered strawberries. I think he had a mango shooter too. Either way, his plate was much healthier then mine, and he enjoyed it.

And DD6 doesn't like sweets, but she loves mango milkshakes, so we grabbed her a couple:

Mango shooters. She never woke up for the fireworks, I tried once and she said she wanted to sleep. I found a CM and asked if they could get me something to bring them to go for her, she found me a container. DD6 had these with breakfast and declared them yummy!

Now the fireworks were great, and it was fantastic having seats. Great view of the fireworks, we didn't have to get up from our front and center table. Some got up and walked to the rail, not an issue at all. Tink flew right over us! It was Dec 21 and crowds were HIGH, I would have not liked to fight for a seat with the masses, I am glad I booked this. Pricey yes, you would never get your monies worth in food, but you are paying for the convience and on a crowded night it is worth it.

And now for the bottom line:

Would we recommend to a friend? If they were going on a crowded day and really wanted to see the fireworks AND had the money to spend, yes.

Would we do it again? I think once was good. I doubt we will try to see the show in such a crowded time of year again, and when we go back to DW next time I want to watch the show from California Grill!

Cost: I paid this in advance, when I booked it. I think I paid a total of around $60, pricey yes, and no discount.

 

[taramoz]

We found ourselves at Hollywood Studios Dec 22, and we had early dinner reservations due to booking the fantasmic package, so we ate lunch right at 11. This worked out really well, because Disney was running a coupon promotion to get 30% off QS restaurants before noon!

So DH wanted Studio Catering Company while DD6 and I wanted ABC Commissary. We decided to split up and meet at a table outside of ABC Commissary, the weather was lovely. I gave DH a coupon and had one for me.

DH went with:

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. Sorry he had already ate some, his food was faster then ours. He called it bland, said the sauce was very ranchy, not so buffalo. Bottom line was this didn't wow him. None the less, he finished it all off along with fries and a coke!

DD6 and I both had an order of:

Chicken Curry with white rice. We both enjoyed this. It wasn't spicy really, wouldn't expect it to be as it is a QS place, but the curry had a good flavor and the portion size was good. I definitely think DD6 and I made the better lunch choice!

So I asked DH if everyone was using the coupons, since at ABC everyone was. Well he got all stutter-y and stuff, then fessed up...
...He didn't use the coupon! That's 3.29 he could have saved!

And now for the bottom line:

Would we recommend to a friend? I would for ABC Commissary, they seemed to have a decent selection. DH wasn't big on Studio Catering Company, but I may try it sometime to see if I agree.

Would we eat here again? Yes, for sure at ABC Commissary. Maybe on Studio Catering.

Cost: DH cost $11.70, he should have saved 3.29 but wasted it. DD6 and I cost $20.05 before coupon, $5.75 savings, paid $14.30.

TIW savings tally (running total): $96.58
Coupon Savings: $5.75 (should be 9.04, LOL, can you tell I was mad)

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

thanks for the post on the dessert. I love dessert but we haven't done it. My son would never make it and my husband and son are not dessert person. Glad you guys enjoyed it.
Thanks for posting the curry chicken and glad it was good (I think your post is the first post I ever read the curry chicken, I guess its a good CS that has something different or something my husband would be interested in)

 

[mindyd]

So after a full day of getting to MK at rope drop and taking no break we were reaching the end of the night and Wish's! We had reservations for the dessert party so we lined up to wait at Tomorrow Land Terrace while they prepared the area. While waiting DD6 fell asleep, I decided to let her rest and I'd wake her for the fireworks and grab a few desserts for her.

And now onto those desserts, there was a lot of selection of sweets!!! We are not huge on sweets, but were ready to dig in as we had planned for this.

My plate:

There is on top a yummy cinnamon cake in that cup, it wasn't labeled but whatever it was it was good. Chocolate covered strawberry, I loved it, went back for more, they are a favorite of mine and these were great, big juicy strawberries covered in thick chocolate. Next chocolate mousse (can you see I like chocolate?), again it was YUM, rich and fluffy. You can see a little truffle on my plate, chocolatety goodness. And finally ended off with creme brule, it was also quite good. Overall, lots of sweets, but yummy. I also drank lemonade, they had tea and coffee too, but I went with lemonade.

DH's plate:

At the top he starts with his favorite, creme brule! He loved it. Then he had that same cinnamon cake thing, grapes, watermelon, and a couple chocolate covered strawberries. I think he had a mango shooter too. Either way, his plate was much healthier then mine, and he enjoyed it.

And DD6 doesn't like sweets, but she loves mango milkshakes, so we grabbed her a couple:

Mango shooters. She never woke up for the fireworks, I tried once and she said she wanted to sleep. I found a CM and asked if they could get me something to bring them to go for her, she found me a container. DD6 had these with breakfast and declared them yummy!

Now the fireworks were great, and it was fantastic having seats. Great view of the fireworks, we didn't have to get up from our front and center table. Some got up and walked to the rail, not an issue at all. Tink flew right over us! It was Dec 21 and crowds were HIGH, I would have not liked to fight for a seat with the masses, I am glad I booked this. Pricey yes, you would never get your monies worth in food, but you are paying for the convience and on a crowded night it is worth it.

And now for the bottom line:

Would we recommend to a friend? If they were going on a crowded day and really wanted to see the fireworks AND had the money to spend, yes.

Would we do it again? I think once was good. I doubt we will try to see the show in such a crowded time of year again, and when we go back to DW next time I want to watch the show from California Grill!

Cost: I paid this in advance, when I booked it. I think I paid a total of around $60, pricey yes, and no discount.

Thank you so much for the review we are doing this next week for my daughters birthday and everything looks very good.

 

[taramoz]

thanks for the post on the dessert. I love dessert but we haven't done it. My son would never make it and my husband and son are not dessert person. Glad you guys enjoyed it.
Thanks for posting the curry chicken and glad it was good (I think your post is the first post I ever read the curry chicken, I guess its a good CS that has something different or something my husband would be interested in)

We are not big on dessert, but really enjoyed the dessert party anyway!

And I do appreciate HS quick service mostly because they have some different selections. I had stalked the menus online before going and knew what I wanted, but there were good choices!

 

[taramoz]

Thank you so much for the review we are doing this next week for my daughters birthday and everything looks very good.

Oh yay, enjoy and happy birthday to your daughter! My DD6 will be a DD7 on Jan 22nd!

 

[stephielela]

We LOVE the dessert party, but it is one of those things that is really priced high enough that it's not something we would do every trip. The hassle free view is definitely worth it!

 

[exwdwcm]

interesting choices at HS. i didn't realize what all they offer, i guess i have been avoiding QS there for so long, i hadn't paid attention! lol

yum on the dessert party- we did it in 2009 and loved it. might have to try it again next year since we skipped it this year. DH and I are big on dessert!

 

[taramoz]

We LOVE the dessert party, but it is one of those things that is really priced high enough that it's not something we would do every trip. The hassle free view is definitely worth it!

Totally agree, we were happy we did it this time!

 

[taramoz]

interesting choices at HS. i didn't realize what all they offer, i guess i have been avoiding QS there for so long, i hadn't paid attention! lol

yum on the dessert party- we did it in 2009 and loved it. might have to try it again next year since we skipped it this year. DH and I are big on dessert!

Too funny, sounds like HS QS for you is like MK QS for me. I will keep on trying!!

The dessert were yummy at the party!

 

[taramoz]

interesting choices at HS. i didn't realize what all they offer, i guess i have been avoiding QS there for so long, i hadn't paid attention! lol

yum on the dessert party- we did it in 2009 and loved it. might have to try it again next year since we skipped it this year. DH and I are big on dessert!

Too funny, sounds like HS QS for you is like MK QS for me. I will keep on trying!!

The dessert were yummy at the party!

 

[taramoz]

We had an early dinner booked at Mama Melrose, with the fanatsmic package. We had a fun day at the parks and were ready for a sit down meal. We booked this place because my DH loves Italian and we hadn’t done it yet! We had seen mixed reviews of this place, but truthfully we had seen mixed reviews of most the places we ate. I had really wanted to like this place, but the service lacked and the food had a few good points but mostly disappointed…

We headed to check in and the restaurant was turning away walk-ins taking only reservations. The lady in front of me seemed to not want to accept this fact and argued for a bit, but eventually gave in. I let them know my name and that we had booked with the fantasmic package, they found me and we sat to wait. The inside of the restaurant is cute; we were looking forward to our meal. I appoligize now that my pictures didn't turn out great here.

We were sat fairly quickly and given menus. Our waitress showed up, and I let her know that we had the fantasmic package but would want to run a separate tab for alcohol that we would use our TIW discount for. She immediately pushed back on the fantasmic package, saying it wasn’t noted on my reservation. Good thing I came prepared, I had the e-mail printout of my confirmation clearly showing we had the package. She took it from me (rudely) and went up front. When she returned she had our fantasmic ticket.

We went on to order drinks, I went with:

The Fountain of Youth. It was essentially a pomegranate martini, and boy was it good, I love these things!

DH decided to try:

The Antioxidant Cocktail, also very tasty.

Now when we placed our order the waitress, very annoyed, told us alcohol is not included in the fantasmic package. I gently reminded her we wanted to run alcohol on a separate tab and would be using our TIW card. My husband saw the waitress wore a badge that indicated she had over a years experience, maybe we just caught her on a bad day….

So for appetizers DD6 wanted nothing. We ordered her (i.e. us) a:

Garden Salad. The kids salad came with ranch, so we asked the waitress if we could just substitute vinaigrette. She told us they did not have vinaigrette but she could bring out oil and vinegar. This was odd to me as the adult garden salad came with Dried Cherry Vinaigrette and the Tomatoes and Mozzarella appetizer came drizzled in balsamic, so I asked if we could do either of those dressings. Still very annoyed with us she said she supposes she could do one of those on the side. We got the Dried Cherry Vinaigrette on the side in the end. It was just ok, nothing special and probably not worth all the hassle.

I went with:

The Tomatoes and Mozzarella appetizer, with caramelized sweet onions, drizzled in balsamic. This sounds way better then it tasted. Was just generally bland, and for me the oddest part was they had huge chunks of sea salt on the cheese, I crunched into one before I realized (Ick). I scrapped the rest off as it was just too much.

DH went with:

A caesar salad. This too was oddly bland, this was becoming the theme!

We were ready for round #2 on drinks, I had:

A Berry Bramble. Not as good as my first choice, but I did still enjoy this!

DH had:

A Mama’s Margarita hold the salt. Also tasty, but came salted <sigh>, DD6 gladly scrapped of and ate the salt for him.

Onto our entrees, I will start with DH because he was the most boring:

Spaghetti and marinara. It was boring, that is DH’s fault not the restaurant.

I decided on:

The Chicken Flat Bread! I really enjoyed this. It was so tasty, and it was HUGE. I offered DH some since he had the boring meal, he agreed mine was good. I definitely recommend this if you eat here!

And lastly DD6 had:

Child’s Spaghetti with meat sauce. She munched this up, LOVED the meat sauce. DH commented he clearly should have had the meat sauce with his. I think DD6 would have drank the sauce if she could!

Last came desserts (plus I had a miller lite sometime in here). I went with:

Chocolate Gelato. Was very creamy and tasty, but I was pretty full from my dinner so just ate a bit.

DH decided on:

Tiramisu. This was actually a drink and not the typical dessert. The one thing the waitress did right was let him know this when he ordered. That was ok with him, he liked this, don’t think he loved it.

And DD6 had:

A fruit cup, grapes and cantaloupe. They were fresh and good.

And now for the bottom line:

Would we recommend to a friend? Probably not, we really didn’t have a good experience with the waitress and besides my flat bread the food was all so blah.

Would we eat here again? Nope, we gave it a try but doubt we will be back.

Cost: Fantasmic Dinner Package: $89.43 before tip, no discount. Drinks $52.36 (Tip included), TIW discount $8.50, total paid $43.86.

TIW savings tally (running total): $105.08
Coupon Savings: $5.75

Bonus, we ran into friends from home at the show:

 

[taramoz]

So our last day, Dec 23, we slept in then headed to Epcot for our reservations at Le Cellier. Now, you have already heard about my favorite (San Angel Inn) and DD6’s favorite (Nine Dragons), so here is DH’s favorite!!! Now is he biased due to being Canadian, I conclude no, it was really good, read on below…

We had lunch reservations right at open, so DH was surprised that he got to sing “Oh Canada” to open the restaurant (I didn’t tell him, wanted to surprise him). It was a treat for him, he has been in Texas for awhile…

So, first things first:

The breadsticks, 3 kinds, pretzel, sour dough, and whole grain. All good in our book. We know people love the pretzel bread, and it was tasty, but I wouldn’t turn down the others either. In fact DD6 (who loves soft pretzels) preferred the sour dough!

DD6 also got:

A mango smoothie, she just loves these, it was a hit! Notice Eyore in the pic, she loves him, he joined us at Epcot this last day. DH had something to drink called a Red Maple, I see it on the receipt, but don’t remember it and I didn’t get a photo. I was boring, had a coke!

Now, we started with appetizers. I will start with DD6, she out of the blue decided that she wanted steak as her meal. This was a first and I was very excited to see her eating something different! I thought this meal would be a huge struggle with her (previously she was always like me and only ate chicken). So the child’s steak comes in the “Kid’s Pick” where you get appetizer, entrée and dessert. She didn’t want either appetizer choice (cheddar cheese soup or carrots/celery sticks) so we ordered her (i.e. us):

The soup, DH and I both tried it and agreed it was very good. I can see why this gets all the great reviews!

Now, DH wished he had ordered the soup as his appetizer instead of:

The Mixed Greens Salad with Vinaigrette. The salad was not bad; he just liked the soup a lot. I had warned him that the soup was a favorite and he may regret not ordering it…

Finally, I went with:

The tomato stack, with Carmelized Onions, Cucumbers, Crumbled Blue Cheese, and Yuzu Vinaigrette. OMG this was the best, I mean YUM, I loved it. I did not regret not ordering the soup cuz this is totally me, plus I got to try the soup thanks to DD6.

Onto the meals, as stated DD6 went with:

The kids steak. This could have gone either way, she has never really ordered steak before, but tada, she loved it! I now am the mommy of a red meat eater!

DH decided on:

The New York Strip Steak (hold yukon potatos, add fries on side - not pictured). The waitress had recommended the Mushroom Filet Mignon but DH decided the NY Strip Steak was more his style. He was right, he devoured this! It was such a great treat for him, he rarely gets to eat steak and he said this one was cooked just the way he likes his steak.

And I went with:

The Chicken Crepe, with roasted portobello mushrooms, peppers, and a Blue Cheese Bechamel Sauce. From the description I thought I would absolutely love this. From the appearance I was perplexed, the crepe was served “open faced” with the chicken, mushrooms, peppers and sauce on top, then covered in a ton of greens. The taste was just ok. I hardly tasted the Blue Cheese Bechamel Sauce which sounds so good, so with all the greens and not enough sauce the result was kind of bland. Now I know, this is a steak place, but I don’t eat steak, so I tried this. When we eat here again I will stick with the tomato stack and the soup, for me that would make a very satisfying meal!

We finished the meal off with desserts!

DD6 of course had:

The fruit cup, her standard dessert. Was good fresh fruit!

DH went with:

His favorite, Crème Brule. This one is Maple Crème Brule, it was really tasty, we all loved it, and DD6 loved it most! Wow, a dessert she actually likes and she had steak for her meal, who’s kid is this?

And I went with:

The Chocolate Moose, had to. Waitress made me snap the shot above (I had taken a bite first, oops), said it was tradition, who am I not to comply with my husband’s native lands tradition! This was good, very chocolately and sweet, so sweet I couldn’t finish it, but good.

And now for the bottom line:

Would we recommend to a friend? For sure, and we’d advise they try to soup!

Would we eat here again? Oh yes, we all enjoyed, I would just have to revise my choices as I mentioned above.

Cost: $121.36 (Before discount), TIW discount $19.70, total paid $101.66.

TIW savings tally (running total): $124.78
Coupon Savings: $5.75

My last update tonight will go through my economics on the AP upgrade and TIW purchase (we have another trip in Oct – see ticker below - which part of why we choose APs)…