Brewersprts
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2013
So I recently got back from an over 3 week trip to Disney World. Did a ton of great things with the exception of eating at Chef Mickeys.
First, a little background. I've been going to disney since I was like 4 months old, in 1987. I was born and raised in Florida to a mom that is a Disney nut (She was actually there when the Magic Kingdom opened and got ran over and tripped over by Fess Parker). We used to make day trips from Bradenton/ Sarasota often. My school even would go to Disney World for field trips.
Anyways, I now live in Ohio and last years trip was the first time that I've ever done a character meal. We did breakfast at cape may. Two adults and three kids. We loved it. Characters were great. Food was very good, fresh and warm. The mickey waffles were amazing. It cost about $140 for us 5 and it was absolutely worth it. Great way to start a Disney vacation.
With this in mind, I was very excited to book another character meal. I wanted to do Chef Mickeys. I have read good and bad reviews but there was some bad reviews for Cape May and it was amazing so I decided I had to get reservations. I was determined to get a perfect time when we wouldn't have to waste park time or have to eat super late. Unfortunately, I can't plan things 6 months out and didn't get reservations at the 180 day mark. Our dates were set less than 2 months before we were leaving. I spent hours upon hours waiting in hold with Disney dining first thing in the morning and last thing at night trying to catch a reservation that would work perfectly for us. I wore out the wifi at work checking the MDE app over and over trying to find a reservation.
I finally found one for 7:10 on a day we would be at Magic Kingdom and a Christmas party was going on. Perfect, we don't have to waste park time eating and we can just ride the monorail over to the Contemporary.
The day we finally went was great. We caught the first monorail we walked up to and only waited a couple minutes to be seated. We also had to have one of the best seats in the building. This was our view. (Sorry for the poor picture, I couldn't get all the reflections out of the picture)
Had a beautiful view of the castle all lit up for Christmas. You could see the lights on space mountain. We could also see the astro orbiters which was awesome because the youngest loves that ride. Could also see the big tree out front of the Contemporary along with the lights they have up in the parking lot.
The characters came up right as we were seated. They were great too. Not rushed, fun, and very patient for everyone's pictures.
Here is where the 'magic' ended...
We got to the food. Absolutely horrible. I had some caeser salad, it was not very good. The lettuce was old and not crisp at all and the croutons were soggy.
The rest of the food was worse. The menu, from Disney not from some other website, was completely wrong. There was no ham, no pizza, no mickey ravioli. The kids are picky so we made sure there was things for everyone to eat before booking. I am not little kid picky but I do like my food to be fresh.
They did have chicken nuggets, which the kids would eat, but they were cold. Not even lukewarm, sitting out in the room cold. The rolls were ok, definitely not anything
to write home about. The kids are not complainers but I could tell that they were definitely not liking their food.
I don't like to complain but the food was so bad that I called Disney dining while sitting at the table. The waitress hadn't been over for a while and I didn't see any management so I didn't know what else to do. I have never not paid for a meal in my life. I absolutely do not believe in cheating or stealing from people especially when kids are watching. That's not the kind of example I want to set. I have never more wanted to walk out on a dinner in my life. Needless to say, I was very upset.
Well, the lady at Disney dining got someone to come over and I spoke with the manager. She was very apologetic and offered to get us something from the other restaurant in the building. She brought us some of those little flat bread pizzas like they serve in the park. They're not worth $10 in the park and especially not worth the $250 + tip the dinner costs us. She said that they didn't control the menu that is on the Disney website and on the MDE app.
We all left hungry and $300 poorer. That doesn't seem right to me.
Basically, the dinner was horrible. The food was bad and old. I could be a lot more understanding if it was bad but at least fresh. I would have liked our money back and I would have been glad to leave ASAP.
The ice cream Sunday bar was good. I guess that's better than nothing.
I wish I was a lesser man, I would have absolutely have walked right out. Disney didn't make it right by me and I will absolutely never be back to eat there.
First, a little background. I've been going to disney since I was like 4 months old, in 1987. I was born and raised in Florida to a mom that is a Disney nut (She was actually there when the Magic Kingdom opened and got ran over and tripped over by Fess Parker). We used to make day trips from Bradenton/ Sarasota often. My school even would go to Disney World for field trips.
Anyways, I now live in Ohio and last years trip was the first time that I've ever done a character meal. We did breakfast at cape may. Two adults and three kids. We loved it. Characters were great. Food was very good, fresh and warm. The mickey waffles were amazing. It cost about $140 for us 5 and it was absolutely worth it. Great way to start a Disney vacation.
With this in mind, I was very excited to book another character meal. I wanted to do Chef Mickeys. I have read good and bad reviews but there was some bad reviews for Cape May and it was amazing so I decided I had to get reservations. I was determined to get a perfect time when we wouldn't have to waste park time or have to eat super late. Unfortunately, I can't plan things 6 months out and didn't get reservations at the 180 day mark. Our dates were set less than 2 months before we were leaving. I spent hours upon hours waiting in hold with Disney dining first thing in the morning and last thing at night trying to catch a reservation that would work perfectly for us. I wore out the wifi at work checking the MDE app over and over trying to find a reservation.
I finally found one for 7:10 on a day we would be at Magic Kingdom and a Christmas party was going on. Perfect, we don't have to waste park time eating and we can just ride the monorail over to the Contemporary.
The day we finally went was great. We caught the first monorail we walked up to and only waited a couple minutes to be seated. We also had to have one of the best seats in the building. This was our view. (Sorry for the poor picture, I couldn't get all the reflections out of the picture)
Had a beautiful view of the castle all lit up for Christmas. You could see the lights on space mountain. We could also see the astro orbiters which was awesome because the youngest loves that ride. Could also see the big tree out front of the Contemporary along with the lights they have up in the parking lot.
The characters came up right as we were seated. They were great too. Not rushed, fun, and very patient for everyone's pictures.
Here is where the 'magic' ended...
We got to the food. Absolutely horrible. I had some caeser salad, it was not very good. The lettuce was old and not crisp at all and the croutons were soggy.
The rest of the food was worse. The menu, from Disney not from some other website, was completely wrong. There was no ham, no pizza, no mickey ravioli. The kids are picky so we made sure there was things for everyone to eat before booking. I am not little kid picky but I do like my food to be fresh.
They did have chicken nuggets, which the kids would eat, but they were cold. Not even lukewarm, sitting out in the room cold. The rolls were ok, definitely not anything
to write home about. The kids are not complainers but I could tell that they were definitely not liking their food.
I don't like to complain but the food was so bad that I called Disney dining while sitting at the table. The waitress hadn't been over for a while and I didn't see any management so I didn't know what else to do. I have never not paid for a meal in my life. I absolutely do not believe in cheating or stealing from people especially when kids are watching. That's not the kind of example I want to set. I have never more wanted to walk out on a dinner in my life. Needless to say, I was very upset.
Well, the lady at Disney dining got someone to come over and I spoke with the manager. She was very apologetic and offered to get us something from the other restaurant in the building. She brought us some of those little flat bread pizzas like they serve in the park. They're not worth $10 in the park and especially not worth the $250 + tip the dinner costs us. She said that they didn't control the menu that is on the Disney website and on the MDE app.
We all left hungry and $300 poorer. That doesn't seem right to me.
Basically, the dinner was horrible. The food was bad and old. I could be a lot more understanding if it was bad but at least fresh. I would have liked our money back and I would have been glad to leave ASAP.
The ice cream Sunday bar was good. I guess that's better than nothing.
I wish I was a lesser man, I would have absolutely have walked right out. Disney didn't make it right by me and I will absolutely never be back to eat there.
We just decided to go to Disney in April a few weeks ago, and the only dinner I can get is 8:45pm. We eat there for dinner every trip and haven't had a bad meal. I love the creamy mashed potatoes and sweet delicious corn bread.
