Reviews and Pictures from our recent trip Apr 29-May 4

Food, dinner show, and resorts...Enjoy!

California Grill, Contemporary Resort

We had 9:20pm dinner reservations for California Grill, but arrived at 8:50pm to get there in time to watch the fireworks from the restaurant. The restaurant used to let all tourists to go up to the elevator to watch the fireworks, but now only dinner patrons are allowed to go up. Our entire experience at California Grill was very good. We enjoyed seeing the fireworks, and were seated right at 9:20pm. We had Duck Confit with Spiced Cherry-Pear Puree, Sun dried Cherry Creme Fraiche and Marjoram flatbread for an appetizer, along with Watercress Salad with Poached Pears, Heirloom Apples, Blue Cheese, and Orange-Shallot Vinaigrette and Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette, Pistachios, Spinach, and Sunlight Goat Cheese. For entrees, we had grilling Pork Tenderloin with creamy Goat Cheese Polenta, Cremini Mushrooms, Zinfandel Glaze, and Sage and Oak-fired Filet with Three Cheese Potato Gratin, Sugar Snap Peas, and Tamarind Barbeque Sauce. For dessert we ordered the Heirloom Apple Tart, with Braeburn Apple and Brown Butter Tart with Apple Brandy Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce, and the Chocolate, Chocolate, Caramel, a warm Valrhona Chocolate Ckae with Molten center, White Chocolate Ice Cream and Scotch Wiskey Caramel. EVERYTHING was amazing! And yes, I did bring the menu home with me, because I would have never remembered all of that!

Polynesian Resort

We were able to stay in one of the newly renovated rooms at the Polynesian. Here are the pictures of it. The Polynesian was wonderful, as always.

Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa

This trip we had to stay at Saratoga Springs for one night, because the Polynesian did not have any availability. We were pleased with the one bedroom villa we had at Saratoga. It was very spacious and well stocked.

Spirit of Aloha Polynesian Luau

The Spirit of Aloha Polynesian Luau at the Polynesian resort is a nighttime dinner show. We wanted to try it out, so we checked with Guest Services our first couple mornings to try and grab someone else's cancellation. Lo and behold, we lucked up, the right number of people and everything.

I don't know if they assign your table as you make your reservation, or what, but we did have an assigned table, and when we got there, we were shown to the very back, far left of the stage. I was majorly disappointed. Our view was very obstructed. I would have liked to have complained, but I was with some friends and didn't want to make a huge deal, but I could tell we were all surprised.

The food was pretty good, you can see a full menu here. I will say that the food gets cold quickly because you are dining outside, usually with a breeze. The pineapple bread is addictive :-)

The show is mostly traditional hula dancing and song from the different Polynesian islands. If you are expecting a lot of fire twirling, you will not see it. There are two fire twirling routines, back to back, at the very end of the show, maybe a total of 10 minutes.

If you really want to see this, make sure you are clear with the reservations person on where you want to sit.

Other places we ate this time...

We ate at a few other places, some repeats and a few new, that I didn't take pictures of this time.

Marrakesh, Morocco, Epcot - I'm glad we tried this, because it was new, but we won't be going back. The music was incredibly loud, you had to shout to be heard, and the food was only so-so.

Rose and Crown, England, Epcot - See the pictures in a previous post. This was yummy as always. Service was a little slow.

Le Cellier, Canada, Epcot - See the pictures in a previous post. This was yummy as always. We tried the cheese soup this time, too, and it was delicious! Service was a very slow.

Boulangerie Patisserie, France, Epcot - This is the little pastry shop tucked in the back of France. We tried the neopolitan (cream filled pastry) and the ham and cheese quiche, both were delicious!

Yakitori House, Japan, Epcot - We tried the beef, chicken, and rice appetizer here, and it was very good food, and not that expensive.

Cantina de San Angel, Mexico, Epcot - We had nachos and margaritas here, the nachos were yummy, I wasn't very impressed with the margarita.

The Brown Derby, Disney - MGM Studios - See the pictures in a previous post. This was yummy as always. FYI - You can no longer order the Cobb salad for one person on the Fantasmic! package, its now the "Cobb Salad for Two".

The Plaza Restaurant, Main Street, Magic Kingdom - We had two great sandwiches here, the reuben and the turkey. We split the brownie sundae for dessert. Seating in the restaurant was a little cramped (we were seated in the "atrium", or the bay window area in the back). Service was really slow.

Tusker House, Africa, Animal Kingdom - We had breakfast here, and didn't realize that it didn't start until 9:30am, even though the park opens at 9am, so we had to wait for 15 minutes. Breakfast was good, the normal WDW fare (eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns) and we also split a cinnamon roll. If you don't want to wait til 9:30, or if you just want pastries, the little pastry shop inside was open at 9am.

Flame Tree Barbeque, Discovery Island, Animal Kingdom - We split a smoked pork sandwich and baked beans for lunch. It was good and filling, and the eatery has lots of shaded seating outside (no indoor seating).

Pinocchio Village Haus, Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom - Seating was crowded in here for lunch! People were hawking for tables! However, the sandwich we split (the turkey panini) was very good and filling! We also got a milkshake to split for dessert, very thick.

Reviews and Pictures from our recent trip in Dec...

I would like to point out that almost every restaurant we went to was turning away walk-ins. Make Advance Dining reservations!!!

Goofy's Liberate Your Appetite Character Meal at Liberty Tree Tavern - Magic Kingdom

For our last meal on this trip, we decided to dine with the characters. We have done this meal once before on a whim and enjoyed it. The food is good, and since it is served family style, it makes the waiter's job much easier. It's just a little tough on the young kids, because when they see that first character, they all want to rush him/her. The meal includes Tossed Mixed Greens salad, a generous serving of roasted turkey breast, marinated Flank Steak and Honey Mustard Ham, accompanied by home made Mashed Potatoes, Garden Vegetables, Herb Bread Stuffing, and Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese. Dessert is Apple Cobbler with ice cream. All all-you-can-eat.

Mama Melrose - Disney MGM Studios

We had a dining reservation for Mama Melrose. Overall, we thought the food was fine, but we had extremely slow service. We thought that they needed a bus boy and someone to refill drinks, that would have helped the wait staff. We had the Brick Oven Baked Caprino Cheese in a tomato basil sauce with rosemary garlic crostini for an appetizer. It was yummy. For entrees, we tried the Spicy Italian Sausage with rigatoni pasta and Charred Butcher Tender Steak. Both meals were good, just not great. We probably won't eat here again until we've tried some other restaurants at MGM.

Le Cellier, Canada - Epcot

We LOVED Le Cellier! We went for lunch time, because I couldn't get a dinner reservation when I called. Our waitress was very friendly and the atmosphere was great. We didn't get a salad since it was lunch time and we didn't want a huge meal. We both ordered the filet with mashed potatoes. I also had a Torontopolitan drink. We shared the trio dessert platter, which had the chocolate whiskey cake, maple creme brulee, and raspberry sorbet. I can't say enough good things; this is definitely a favorite for us.

Private Dining - Special Order Cake

So I've read where other people had custom small cakes ordered for their special occasions and wanted to do the same for our anniversary dinner at Narcoosee's. I was fortunate that we were already choosing to eat at a Grand Floridian restaurant, because there would be no delivery fee since the Grand has a bakery onsite.

So I called the Grand Floridian and asked to be connected to the bakery. Instead I was connected to Private Dining. The lady I spoke to very nice, be didn't have enough information (as I found out later). We spoke about the three options for cakes. I believed all cake options were 6" round cakes. I won't go into all the details discussed here, if you are really interested, you can search for my post on the Echo. In the end I chose the Mini Castle Cake. I was so excited to surprise my hubby with this.

When the waitress brought it out that night, my jaw hit the floor. I was staring at a very "cute" castle....CUPCAKE. Seriously. It was the size of a cupcake. For $25. I was stunned, but kept quiet until the waitress left.

On the upside, the little cake was very good, and we enjoyed it.

If you want to do this, I would suggest calling the Wedding Planning office to find out about cake options, or insisting Private Dining confirm the size of the cakes. Since I thought I knew what she was saying, I wasn't adament about finding a second resource.

Since the lighting was not kind to my camera, I'm posting both pictures I took, combine them with your imagination and you'll have an accurate representation of the cake :-)

Narcoosee's - Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

Narcoosee's was overall a wonderful experience. I'll say the negative at the top, the Grand Floridian has terrible parking, had we known this from the start, we would have used valet. The is also one of the more expensive restaurants at Walt Disney World. Ok, that's all the negative things. The waitress we had was wonderful, she did not talk down to us like some wait staffs do in formal restaurants, she was extremely friendly and helpful. She offered a complimentary champagne toast since we were celebrating our anniversary. The menus were printed with "Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. __ !" And the food was EXCELLENT. Plus, you can see Wishes, with the music, from the wrap-around porch. It was a little chilly, but I liked this option much better than Ohana's, because then everyone dining has a fair opportunity to enjoy it as part of their dinner, not just the window table campers. Ok, back to the food. We had the Caesar and field greens salads for appetizers (we loved the rasberry vinaigrette dressing on the greens), and the filet and chicken with greens and sweet potato for dinner. It was all delicious. For dessert I had ordered a cake which is covered above. We highly recommend this restaurant, especially to get out of the park but still enjoy the fireworks. Just use the valet! (I apologize for the dark pics, if I used the flash, it made the whole plate, including food, bright white! FYI - our tablecloth was cobalt blue, not black!)

Alfredo's, Italy - Epcot

We got the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package and chose Alfredo's, in Italy. Its in the highest tier level for this package. The nice thing about the package is that you each get an appetizer, entree, and dessert. There were five of us, and we tried to have each person get something different. For appetizers, we tried caesar salad and fettuccine alfredo. The salad was very good, but the dressing had a very strong anchovies flavor (a note for those who prefer their caesar dressing less "anchovy-y") and the alfredo was incredibly RICH but delicious. For entrees, we tried the veal with polenta, a trio platter of lasagna, ziti and truffles pasta, wild boar sausage and beans, and steak. The sausage was very spicy, really too spicy for any of our tastes. The lasagna was good, a little better than you get at your typical Italian chain restaurant. Our favorite was the veal and polenta. It was delicious. Desserts were very good, nothing extraordinary. We would probably not got back here for awhile. The food was good, but the atmosphere and the wait staff did not impress us for the price level of the restaurant. I will note that after looking at the menus available at the various WDW fan sites I realized that we had a slightly different one, so don't be surprised if you don't see these exact items when you go!

Port Orleans French Quarter

This trip we stayed at Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter. It was our first stay at this resort, and we really liked it! We had a king bed room.

Reviews and photos from our recent trip in Sept...

Beaches & Cream - Beach Club resort

Beaches and Cream sounded really cool to me, so we stopped there on one of our last days for lunch. We ate at the counter and split a double cheeseburger and a fudge brownie sundae. This was another delicious place to eat and has a great atmosphere too! One day I will tackle the "Kitchen Sink"!

Ghiradelli - Downtown Disney

One night we stopped at the Ghiradelli Store. We split a large brownie Sundae topped with ice cream and hot fudge that was absolutely delicious. YUM!!! We highly recommend!!!

Fulton's - Downtown Disney

We had lunch at Fulton’s Crab House where I had a crab cake and my husband had a cheeseburger (no, he doesn't like seafood). The crab cake was extremely rich. The wait staff was so-so. We'll probably not try this again for awhile.