Steelersfan
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2002
We just returned June 23rd after 10 days on the dining plan. Before I start, just a little about us and the review. Going on the trip were:
Me- 50 years old and I am a big eater. The thought of a sit-down, table serve and 2 snacks did not intimidate me until now!
My wife- 48 and not a very picky eater but eats much less than I do. She has a shellfish allergy which I will talk about later.
My daughter- 15 and is not crazy about anything spicy.
Like the reviews I have written in the past, I want to be honest but realistic. I also want to put into perspective how much money these meals cost if not on the dining plan so people know. I think it is totally fair to expect pretty good food and an overall experience if paying well over $200 for a buffet. I have benefited from other reviews each trip and want to help people make a good decision about their reservations if I can. I also want to describe the overall experience including service, time spent there, character interaction, issues, etc.
I will be reviewing the following..
Table Serve:
Chef Mickey's (dinner)
Sanaa (Lunch)
50's Primetime (Lunch)
Via Nappoli (dinner)
Homecomin' (dinner)
O'hana (dinner)
Rainforest Cafe (dinner)
Crystal Palace (lunch)
Sci-Fi (out of pocket dinner with just appetizers)
Tusker House (breakfast)
Counter Serve:
Earl of Sandwich (lunch)
Cosmic Ray's (dinner)
Sassagoula Floatworks (dinner)
Be Our Guest (lunch)
La Cantina de San Angel (lunch)
Leaning Palms (lunch)
Yorkshire County Fish Shop (lunch)
Electric Umbrella (dinner)
Pinocchio Village Haus (lunch)
Let's start from day one and I will try and add one restaurant at a time.
We had a crazy 5 AM flight out of Pittsburgh on Southwest. We knew that this would make for a very long day so we decided to start the day with an early lunch at Earl of Sandwich since we were staying at the French Quarter. We tend to do this every trip because our room is usually ready when we get back before heading out.
The first time we ate there I had the beef and bleu which is no longer on the menu. I had the Hawaiian the last few trips and debated for months as to which to get this time. I switched it up this time and went with the holiday turkey with a side of potato salad and a fountain drink.
This was unique and I would probably get it again. The price was around $15 which is standard for WDW but is much more than the quality of food was worth if this restaurant was home. My wife got the Original 1762 with cheddar and horseradish sauce. This is her "go to" here and she said it was good as usual. She got a bag of chips and a fountain drink for around $12.50.
Finally our daughter wasn't in love with any offerings so they made her an adult grilled cheese sandwich. She had the pasta salad as a side and she liked both very much and actually raved about the grilled cheese. She also had a fountain drink.
The meal here was very good as always and we got through the line quickly. There were plenty of places to sit because we were there shortly after 11 AM. I always tell people that this place is an excellent place to break up the counter serve meals because there is so much diversity in the menu. It also allows soft drinks to be refilled, which is a bonus. I would not pay the $45 dollarish bill for this at home but it is a fair value at WDW. Keep in mind that the portions here are not huge. This is good and bad. If on the meal plan and a big sit-down is planned for the second meal this is perfect! If you are paying for this and it is the main meal of the day it isn't as great a value. Also factor that anything at Disney Springs is going to require a substantial time commitment to get there. If this place was located in a park it would be a no brainer, especially on the dining plan.
One side note is that when we went to pay, the pin number with our account did not work. They could not reset it at the restaurant so luckily I had a gift card to pay with because we had all money and cards with us since we had to store our carry on bags at the hotel. This ended up being a major pain and started the trip negatively. First, the cashier at Earl told us to go to guest services and they could fix it. We did and they couldn't. This caused a second wait back at the hotel where they just credited the money spent to our account and charged us the three credits. I actually had to argue with the cast member at French Quarter because he was saying the pasta and potato sides were not included on the meal plan but everything under $4 was. It was very annoying.
Just a note to everyone... reset your pin at the hotel before doing anything. They said it was common for the pin entered in the early check-in to not work. Avoid the hassle and only stand in one line!
After getting all that straightened out, the room still wasn't ready (but it was still well before 3 PM) so we just went to the Magic Kingdom to use some fastpasses and eventually hit our first sit-down of the trip, Chef Mickey's which I'll post next!
Me- 50 years old and I am a big eater. The thought of a sit-down, table serve and 2 snacks did not intimidate me until now!
My wife- 48 and not a very picky eater but eats much less than I do. She has a shellfish allergy which I will talk about later.
My daughter- 15 and is not crazy about anything spicy.
Like the reviews I have written in the past, I want to be honest but realistic. I also want to put into perspective how much money these meals cost if not on the dining plan so people know. I think it is totally fair to expect pretty good food and an overall experience if paying well over $200 for a buffet. I have benefited from other reviews each trip and want to help people make a good decision about their reservations if I can. I also want to describe the overall experience including service, time spent there, character interaction, issues, etc.
I will be reviewing the following..
Table Serve:
Chef Mickey's (dinner)
Sanaa (Lunch)
50's Primetime (Lunch)
Via Nappoli (dinner)
Homecomin' (dinner)
O'hana (dinner)
Rainforest Cafe (dinner)
Crystal Palace (lunch)
Sci-Fi (out of pocket dinner with just appetizers)
Tusker House (breakfast)
Counter Serve:
Earl of Sandwich (lunch)
Cosmic Ray's (dinner)
Sassagoula Floatworks (dinner)
Be Our Guest (lunch)
La Cantina de San Angel (lunch)
Leaning Palms (lunch)
Yorkshire County Fish Shop (lunch)
Electric Umbrella (dinner)
Pinocchio Village Haus (lunch)
Let's start from day one and I will try and add one restaurant at a time.
We had a crazy 5 AM flight out of Pittsburgh on Southwest. We knew that this would make for a very long day so we decided to start the day with an early lunch at Earl of Sandwich since we were staying at the French Quarter. We tend to do this every trip because our room is usually ready when we get back before heading out.
The first time we ate there I had the beef and bleu which is no longer on the menu. I had the Hawaiian the last few trips and debated for months as to which to get this time. I switched it up this time and went with the holiday turkey with a side of potato salad and a fountain drink.
This was unique and I would probably get it again. The price was around $15 which is standard for WDW but is much more than the quality of food was worth if this restaurant was home. My wife got the Original 1762 with cheddar and horseradish sauce. This is her "go to" here and she said it was good as usual. She got a bag of chips and a fountain drink for around $12.50.
Finally our daughter wasn't in love with any offerings so they made her an adult grilled cheese sandwich. She had the pasta salad as a side and she liked both very much and actually raved about the grilled cheese. She also had a fountain drink.
The meal here was very good as always and we got through the line quickly. There were plenty of places to sit because we were there shortly after 11 AM. I always tell people that this place is an excellent place to break up the counter serve meals because there is so much diversity in the menu. It also allows soft drinks to be refilled, which is a bonus. I would not pay the $45 dollarish bill for this at home but it is a fair value at WDW. Keep in mind that the portions here are not huge. This is good and bad. If on the meal plan and a big sit-down is planned for the second meal this is perfect! If you are paying for this and it is the main meal of the day it isn't as great a value. Also factor that anything at Disney Springs is going to require a substantial time commitment to get there. If this place was located in a park it would be a no brainer, especially on the dining plan.
One side note is that when we went to pay, the pin number with our account did not work. They could not reset it at the restaurant so luckily I had a gift card to pay with because we had all money and cards with us since we had to store our carry on bags at the hotel. This ended up being a major pain and started the trip negatively. First, the cashier at Earl told us to go to guest services and they could fix it. We did and they couldn't. This caused a second wait back at the hotel where they just credited the money spent to our account and charged us the three credits. I actually had to argue with the cast member at French Quarter because he was saying the pasta and potato sides were not included on the meal plan but everything under $4 was. It was very annoying.
Just a note to everyone... reset your pin at the hotel before doing anything. They said it was common for the pin entered in the early check-in to not work. Avoid the hassle and only stand in one line!
After getting all that straightened out, the room still wasn't ready (but it was still well before 3 PM) so we just went to the Magic Kingdom to use some fastpasses and eventually hit our first sit-down of the trip, Chef Mickey's which I'll post next!
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