My Trip Report for Jan. '09: Dining!

[BigThunder]

This is the first of my trip reports & I think I'm going to do them in themes as I've never really done one before & since I cannot really remember things on a day by day basis, well, this is how I'm doing it So I hope someone out there will enjoy reading it!

My family & I are big food court eaters. Not that we are trying to be cheap (because it's really not that much cheaper than a lot of the sit-down places it seems) or anything but it just works for us. I've never really liked being tied down by an itinerary that was dictated by where we had dining reservations for that day. We've always been more of a 'play it by ear' type of family & would just go to whatever park we wanted to that day & eat wherever with the exception of a couple of places we always go to & have to make ressies.

So this year I decided to mix it up a bit & I made a few reservations for places we'd never tried before and i was very excited about it.

First off we did Chef Mickeys. Now this was by far not our first time but our first time in a few visits. Plus we did breakfast which we'd never done before. It was very good food & the atmosphere was just as I remembered it, very high & fun! It almost made me sad being there & seeing all the small kids & their excitement & smiling faces because it made me remember how little mine were when they first started going to CM & how much they loved the place. My kids are now taller than a lot of the characters but still, they seemed to enjoy it.

We did a number of places in EPCOT. First the Rose & Crown. I was a bit disappointed in it. David has always LOVED getting the fish & chips at the little walk up place & just strolling & eating, lol. Well, he was suprised the portions were the exact same yet the price was much higher. I guess the joy of getting to sit down inside & eat, idk. I thought the fish was bland. The fries were just typical WDW fries & yummy but I ate one of my pieces of fish & was done. Our waiter was adorable (as are most men with british accents) & gave us very good service so I can't say anything bad about that. We also did Biergaren...it wasn't planned but my family loves that place so much we just ended up back there again. They do have an excellent buffet & I like how you usually end up sitting with another family & get to chat with some fellow travelers. The last place we did was Le Cellier in Canada. The food was EXCELLENT! We got two sides along with our meals; one of mac 'n cheese & another of mashed potatoes & they were the best I think i've ever had! The place itself was a little crowded & tables & chairs were all jammed together..not sure how the waitresses moved around because I had a hard time getting to the bathroom!

In Magic Kingdom we did Tony's Town Square & though I have heard things bad about it we really enjoyed it! Our waitress was so funny! She really made it for us. Plus the bread with the olive oil in the bowl (is that what it is??) was delicious. Very good food & huge servings. Of course I am by no means used to authentic italian food so what was yummy to me may not be so to those that are

We did Sci Fi Drive In Theater at MGM but we've done it a million times & it's always a favorite. My burger this time seemed particularly good tho, lol.

We also headed over to Whispering Canyon Cafe at the WL. We've done it 3 times & have always had a blast. Our server was horrible! Not only NOT a good server (we waited 25 minutes for a refill on chicken & requested breasts only to get two dark meats & never any refill on bread tho we request it twice). He was not only not fun but downright rude I think. Plus none of the other servers were having a good time with their tables. The only thing going on was the ketchup being passed from table to table to table. Overall not worth it at all this time.

The absolute BEST place we ate was Tusker House in AK. That buffet was incredible! And the people were so nice. Very good mix of choices. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! Everyone needs to try this place.

We did Rainforest Cafe' at DTD & also T-Rex which I have already written about so I won't take your time here again but I'll just say we love them both.

Oh, & btw, STILL didn't try a Dole Whip thing! I forgot all about it, lol.

So, this trip really did feel like the Trip of Eating Too Much because we were always eating it seemed, lol. And I did enjoy trying new places. But I think next trip we won't do so many advanced dining reservations because it was frustrating at times to have to go where our ressies were when we really wanted to go somewhere else...or to have to stop when we were having fun at one thing because we had to make our way here or there to eat. I do prefer eating when I'm hungry & wherever we happen upon. In the day of the Dining Plan it's not always possible tho. It's caused everything to book up, even places that in years past we never had trouble walking up & getting in.

Now, I feel about 40 pounds heavier & will need to seriously keep up my walking to try to take some of this off!!

[Tink]

Wow!!! You sure did mix it up! You had quite a number of full service/sit down meals.

We've almost always had a good time at the Biergarten. Haven't been in some time, but it's a fun place, isn't it?

Yepper, Le Cellier is good but the tables are far too close. I know they do that to serve as many as possible, but it's more like dining in the thick of Manhattan than Canada!

Good that you enjoyed all your other places, with the exception of Whispering Canyon.

It's no fun when the service is not good, its it? I hope you spoke with someone?

Thank you for the report!

[Isafari]

Thanks for the report.....I'm gonna have to try Sci Fi one day
I agree with your opinions on Le Cellier. Best meal of our recent trip.

[Disneybumble]

BT l'm impressed with all that food. Have never ate at any of those places as like you we are a family of see what we can find. They all sound good apart from your service at WC.

[foreverducky]

Hmmm, I would love to do LeCellier but I don't like eating in crowded places. That's a bummer. I wonder when an off time would be?

That's too bad about WC, I do also hope that you spoke with someone.

I would also like to try SciFi.

Thanks for sharing with us.

[mumof2]

I haven't eaten at any of those places either, we're another family of 'eat when you need to wherever takes your fancy' !

[BigThunder]

I did not complain at WC & yes, I should have. I did complain about the chicken tho & so he comes back to the table & said to make up for the chicken I'd like to get you all desert & asked if we preferred the chocolate cake or the apple pie. So david & I look at each other & both say chocolate cake. The girls got a gleam in their eyes! Now, i didn't expect for them to get a piece of cake too because they got kids meals, not the buffet but still, it would have been nice if he had. So he comes back with the box & when I open it up back in the room there is one piece of cake! lmao. I guess he thought we were a family of light eaters! NOT!

Everyone should try Sci Fi. I know I've read a lot of bad reviews of it or for some people it is just not up their alley so to speak but we absolutely love the place. We've had service that has run the gamant from horrible to wonderful but we've had more good than bad & that's why we always go back.