Disney Dining Plan Reviews Aug 19-25

[Bonnie40]

Cast of Characters:

Bonnie (that's me! ) 44 - Trip Planner and mom of a Disney ICP CM!
Shane (DH 47) - Is happy I'm the planner and is our Disney Driver!
Shayna (DD 20) - Has been a CM in Toontown for 3 1/2 months and her program ends August 25
Ben (DS 16) - Not a Disney fan, but coerced by free dining!
Jarrett (DS 14) - Probably not a Disney fan either, but doesn't say much and is happy to play and eat!

The first part of our vacation was at POR with free dining. We checked out of POR on the 25th and checked in to the Beach Club for 3 nights - not on the dining plan because Shayna was able to get us an incredible discounted room rate! She wanted to go out with a bang!

I was worried about the changes everyone had been talking about just prior to the free dining period, but fear not - we had fabulous service and no problem with the way we used our credits. We were all adult credits, but we did treat a friend of Shayna's while we were there and used 6 credits for one TS. Shayna was unable to join us for 2 TS because she was working, and when the week was over, we only had 1 TS and 1 CS left!

I'm going to try and remember where and when we ate, and give you my opinions on our choices. All our TS's were at restaurants we hadn't tried before.

We arrived quite late at POR on the 19th, so did not use any credits that day. OT, but I have to say that when my daughter got off that MK bus at 11:15 p.m., I thought my heart would bust with joy! It was a glorious reunion and she was so happy to see everyone!

On Sunday, we had an ADR at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe for noon. We invited Shayna's friend who was on the same program and was a maid at the HM - Minnie56's daughter! I had read some good reviews for WPC and was really looking forward to it. Service was great - we were promptly seated and had a lovely view of the water. As appetizers we ordered crab cakes (good, not great), calamari (wonderful!), caesar salad (very good).

3 in our group had the filet mignon, 2 had the Wolf's steak, and our lone vegetarian (Ben) had some type of shrimp pasta. I thought the filet was okay, not great and the Wolf's steak was a little tough and fatty. Jarrett didn't finish his...I don't think he enjoyed 'fighting' with it.

For dessert, we enjoyed the creme brulee, the carrot cake and the key lime pie (kids are still talking about how tasty the key lime pie was!)

I have to say that I had a bit of an upset tummy afterwards, but I think it had more to do with eating such a heavy meal at lunch time rather than dinner.

We didn't feel much like eating when dinner rolled around, and because we didn't do parks, we just grabbed some philly steak sandwiches from the food court and they were pretty darn tasty!

Up next...lunch at Teppanyaki!

 

[pennyplanner]

Keep those reviews coming!

--penny

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[loralie]

. We invited Shayna's friend who was on the same program and was a maid at the HM - Minnie56's daughter.

Great review so far.....What is HM?

TIA,

Loralie

 

[MickeyNicki]

Haunted Mansion?

 

[Bonnie40]

Sorry...yes, the Haunted Mansion...

Day Two...We had a 12:15 ADR for Teppanyaki which I changed from a dinner reservation so that Shayna could join us for lunch. We were all really excited about eating here and after a quick tour of MK first thing, we jumped on the monorail and headed to Epcot and WS. Didn't really know what to expect because we've never even eaten at a regular Japanese style restaurant. We were seated with a couple and their grown daughter and it turns out that he recognized Shayna from Toontown. He is a full-time CM in the maintenance department! Very nice conversation and we really enjoyed the 'show' of cooking the food. My vegetarian was really looking forward to this meal, and in the end, Mitsokashi Teppanyaki was in our top 3 for the week!

We all enjoyed the seaweed salad. Ben got the miso soup, Shayna and I got the edamame and Shane and Jarrett enjoyed the salad. Neither one of us could finish the edamame and next time I would problably just get the salad. Ben really enjoyed the soup.

We all enjoyed a variety of entrees...chicken/shrimp, steak/scallop, scallop/shrimp. Everything was fabulous and cooked just perfectly!

For dessert we all enjoyed the green tea ice cream, but quite honestly, we were almost too full to finish it!

BTW, we are big eaters in our family, and I was worried about portion sizes for DDP. Pictures always seemed to show small portions...not what we're used to, but we always had plenty to eat!

Shayna went off to work and we ended up grabbing sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich for our CS for dinner, brought them back to the resort and enjoyed them in our room. We really love those sandwiches! One of the best secrets of eating at Disney!

Day 3 - Kona Cafe!

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Great reviews I am sure your daughter had a blast being a Disney CM. My friends from highschool did the college program also and they loved it.

 

[Bonnie40]

On Tuesday, we headed to MGM and grabbed our counter service lunch at Pizza Planet. I never would have chosen to eat here, but we were hot and hungry and the boys liked the idea of pizza. It wasn't too darn bad! We beat the lunch crowd and enjoyed a nice lunch upstairs. I think there was a fellow Diser there at the same time, but I decided not to say anything because she seemed to be at her wits end with her daughter in line for lunch!

Tuesday night we had an ADR for Kona at 6:15 p.m. I was really looking forward to this meal and it didn't disappoint! The service was excellent! I had the crab cakes (much better than WPC), my one son had the caesar salad, the other the wings (awesome!) and my husband had the pot stickers. Everyone enjoyed the appetizers. Unfortunately, Ben drank his smoothie a little too quickly and it gave him a bit of an upset tummy.

For entrees, I had the filet (fabulous - melt in your mouth good!), Shane and Ben got the Mahi-Mahi (very good and they enjoyed having something a little different), and Jarrett got the beef teriyaki (he said it was good).

Shane was the only one who got dessert - the chocolate macadamia nut torte and he said it was good, but one piece would have been enough. We were stuffed!

Next - Concourse Steakhouse...

 

[LAS]

Thanks for the review. It appears you have eaten at all the places I want to try on our next trip. It's not till next year but I'm already planning where I want to eat.

 

[serendipity]

thanks for the reviews! really enjoying reading them? was the pizza at pizza planet more like pizza hut or an actual italian pizzeria?

 

[Bonnie40]

It was nothing special pizza, but seemed to hit the spot for everyone!

Wednesday we had an ADR for Concourse Steakhouse at 6:15 p.m. My first impression wasn't great because the hostess could barely paste a smile on her face and she was the first CM that didn't display any 'Disney magic'.

We were promptly seated in a booth which was nice. For appetizers I had the lobster bisque (didn't impress me at all), Jarrett got the pan-seared scallops (he said they were 'okay'), Ben got the caesar salad (he enjoyed it), and Shane got the tomato salad, which he said was very tasty.

For entrees, Shane got the prime rib. He eats alot of prime rib and when his plate arrived, my thought was 'how boring'. Up to this point, everything we'd eaten was beautifully presented and looked appetizing. We didn't see that at the Concourse.

Jarrett also had a steak of some kind...said it was good, but that was it. Ben and I had the pasta dish, one with shrimp and one without. I understand that it has olives in it, but boy, I did not enjoy the flavour of this dish. We both ate some of it, but most was left behind.

I forget what Shane had for dessert, but I just asked for a butterfingers cheesecake to go so Shayna could enjoy it after work.

Concourse Steakhouse was the disappointment of our trip. Service was just okay, food was just okay, and nothing 'wowed' us.

Thursday...Chef Mickey's