YIKES!!!! I gained 7 pounds in 12 days! COMPLETE...and going back!!!!

[annie1995]

Just found your review today, and I am all caught up and can't wait for more!!!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Just found your review today, and I am all caught up and can't wait for more!!!

Welcome! So glad you found this thread and that you're enjoying it.

 

[iloveeeyore]

AWESOME, magical experience!!!

We did this per Belle's request, and we are not disappointed that we did. Even Hercules had a nice time, especially when Aurora asked him if he was brave enough to pose for a picture with her.

This was the first week of some changes to the menu. There was a new dish of corvina (the same kind of fish I had eaten at SAI earlier in the week, but I didn't realize that at the time). It was prepared with olives and tomatoes, and I wish I had ordered it. Instead, I ordered the Major Domo's Favorite Pie just like everyone else at the table. It wasn't bad at all, I just think it would have been nice to have another dish on the table to try. They also had removed the chocolate buckle dessert from the menu, which really disppointed me as I had been dreaming of tasting this; instead we had rice pudding, which was probably the best I have ever tasted.

First they brought out the appetizer platter:

This was wonderful, and we were HUNGRY, so we asked for another.

Next we all had the Major Domo's Favorite Pie:

This was very good. It was a very flavorful and and tender potroast with some veggies, served over a puff pastry (which couldn't really be tasted, because it didn't exactly stand up to the rich sauce, IMO). Hercules didn't like his very much at all (he is not such a potroast fan), he ate about half, but left the rest. Belle, Aladdin and I really enjoyed this.

Desserts here were a pleasant surprise!

I think Hercules ordered the chocolate mousse:

He seemed to really like it and polished it off easily. I didn't taste it because it looked like the dessert from the Spirit of Aloha show, which I don't like at all.

I had the sorbet with berries:

Very light and refreshing!

Aladdin and Belle tried the rice pudding:

OK, if you enjoy rice pudding, ORDER IT AT CRT!! I don't know what it was about it, but this was so delicious! Thick and creamy, with not too much other stuff like cinnamon or nutmeg overpowering the creaminess.

Of course no meal would be complete without the complimentary cupcake:

So I told you about the food, now I want to tell you about the real reason anyone goes to CRT...the atmosphere. Please see next post.

 

[iloveeeyore]

We checked in on time for our 1:20 ADR. People were trying to get in as walk-ins and were being turned away. We waited outside about 10 minutes (I think Cindy was on a break) before being led into the greeting hall, where we waited on a short line for our greet with Cinderella. She was wonderful with Belle, they told each other lots of secrets and did plenty of laughing, and we were allowed to take a few photos of just Belle alone with Cindy before posing for our family photo.

We waited about 15 or 20 minutes down in that chamber before being taken upstairs to our table. We didn't mind waiting at all. We were treated to the beautiful glass windows, the small statues of Jacques and GusGus up on the molding, and watching other families interact with the princess.

Our table was up on the second tier of the restaurant just next to the railing with a great view of the room. It was a great location from which to enjoy the wishing ceremony. We each received a wishing star, Belle received a magic wand, and Hercules got a sword. Throughout our meal we were visited by Aurora in the pink dress, Mary Poppins, Ariel in a teal dress, and finally, our favorite, Belle in her blue dress. Our Belle shared quite a few moments with Belle, and helped us to present Belle with her crystal tiara. It was a wonderful, relaxing and magical time, and worth every penny for our family.

Please ask away if you have any questions about this!

Up next...Hoop Dee Doo Review!

 

[mermaid764]

I just found your review last night an am absolutely loving it.

I love how you took chances on some restaurants that had bad reviews, and found otherwise, and I love your pics.

We've been considering doing San Angel Inn, and your report definitely has me leaning towards it now.

We also loved CRT and the rice pudding looks delicious.

Looking forward to more

 

[sandym718]

Thanks for the CRT review. We did lunch in 2009 and have it scheduled for March. I was disappointed to hear about the menu changes, especially the chocolate buckle, I LOVED That! But I'm a rice pudding fan, so I'll probably try that. I got the Domo Pie last time, and I may do that again or try something new.

 

[iloveeeyore]

I just found your review last night an am absolutely loving it.

I love how you took chances on some restaurants that had bad reviews, and found otherwise, and I love your pics.

We've been considering doing San Angel Inn, and your report definitely has me leaning towards it now.

We also loved CRT and the rice pudding looks delicious.

Looking forward to more

Thank you for the compliment. Our philosophy has always been "try it once ourselves," because we don't always agree with the majority. To each his/her own.

Thanks for the CRT review. We did lunch in 2009 and have it scheduled for March. I was disappointed to hear about the menu changes, especially the chocolate buckle, I LOVED That! But I'm a rice pudding fan, so I'll probably try that. I got the Domo Pie last time, and I may do that again or try something new.

We are VERY glad we tried CRT, and would absolutely do it again without hesitation. Late lunch was perfect! Thanks for reading.

 

[iloveeeyore]

We decided to try the 9:30 show since we had the TIW card, and you only get a discount at the late show.

We have been many, many times to HDDR, we ADORE it, but have never tried the late show before. We were concerned we would be so tired, but our next day was moving day, so we knew we could sleep in a bit. We are very pleased we attended this show! We noticed right away from milling about outside Pioneer Hall that many of the guests there that night were friends of the cast members in the show. When actors play to each other or to their friends, there seems to be a different kind of energy, kind of like they have to outdo each other. The audience was also smaller, nobody was seated in the balcony, and maybe only 2/3 of the floor was filled, so it was a little more intimate. Somehow, it seemed even more raucus than usual. The guy who played Jim Handy had the hiccups, and we all had so much fun with it.

Belle was given the honor of ringing the dinner bell (a triangle) to open Pioneer hall. This was the first time anyone in my family had done this, and she felt very special. A little of her shyness came out, it was very cute. Aladdin and I danced to "let me call you sweetheart" during the anniversary celebration. It was very special and magical moment for us, and we both had tears of joy streaming down our faces. Like I said, the show was knee-slappin' hilarious as always, maybe even more so for us. It's funny how this show never becomes rote for us, it is different every time, and each time we seem to laugh more than the last. We laughed until we cried!

The food was delicious as always, not fancy, but filling and yummy. Here's what the table looked like when we sat down:

Here's a close-up of the salad and scrumptious corn bread:

I don't have any other food pics from this, but there was bbq chicken and ribs, baked beans, and strawberry short cake. As Aladdin says, "It's no California Grill, but that's not what I'm going there for."

Honestly, folks, you've GOT to try it once. It continues to blow us away, trip after trip! This time it was even more magical than ever! We can't imagine ever another trip to WDW without one night at the HDDR. It is seriously one of the best (if not THE best) attractions at WDW, in our unanimous opinion. DOO IT!

 

[mrmdisneyfl]

Great reviews, thanks for sharing!

 

[kstgelais4]

Thanks for sharing your reviews we chose 4 of the restaurants you reviewed. But after I read your Le Chefs de France review I fell like I NEED to go there! Looked delish!

 

[DaniBeems]

All of the pictures look delicious! Then again, when it comes to food, I always find my mouth watering at pictures of it. They are very kid friendly, but I think that I would have dug into that pizza, mac and cheese, chicken nugget combo over anything fancier! Definitely worth the 7lbs!

 

[disney_princess_85]

Fabulous reviews! In particular I loved your Chefs de France review- the food looked great! Looking forward to eating there for the first time in September.

 

[saopaulo]

Even the corn bread looks delicious. Thanks for sharing.

 

[wdwpirates]

Just stumbled on your dining report...great reviews and pics! Really enjoyed it!! Thanks!

 

[mommycrawford]

I was very apprehensive about booking dinner our first night at Chef Mickey's. We had a kind of mini first night tradition going on here our first three trips, but the third time, well, it was just, let's say, "less than magical." The food was pretty bad, characters were meh, and though we had told our waitress we were celebrating a birthday, no aknowledgment. We gave it a break last trip, did WCC first night, since we were staying at WL (didn't like it much). This time, the kids, especially Hercules, really wanted to come back to Chef Mickey's the first night. I tried to persuade them that something ELSE might be fun to try the first night. 1900 Park Fare or Crystal Palace, maybe? In the end, Herc really wanted CM's and the guy asks for so little, I said ok. Aladdin and Belle were totally into it. It would be great, right? We were mostly going for the characters, right?

We arrived at CR around 4:45 for a 5:30 ADR, so we knew we had plenty of time for Aladdin to check out the gift shops (DANGER, DANGER! we should really keep Aladdin out of the gift shops)! Since I don't much enjoy shopping, I told my family I was going out onto the observation deck to look around. No one wanted to come with me; they preferred the shops.

I snapped some photos of the view from 4th floor deck:
BLT:

Standing in that spot looking left:

Other side of the monorail tracks:

Zoomed:

It was a little too much concrete for my personal taste, but nice and close to MK.

We decided to check in to CM's a little early, around 5:05. We had to wait several minutes for our photo because the one party ahead of us had 23 members in their party. As you might imagine, it takes a while to get a photo with 23 subjects! Immediately after our photo was done, our buzzer went off and we were led to a table kind of near the buffet with a nice view of the monorail gliding above. They have changed the configuration of this restaurant quite a bit, it seemed to me. It no longer has a "main room" under the monorail. As usual, it is broken down into a few rooms, but the part that used to have the most action is now occupied by the photo station, and what used to be part of the photo station and waiting area is now the restaurant? Anyway, we were very happy with our table, we weren't very crowded at all.

Our server was Chris, and she was wonderful! Extremely attentive and kept our table clear and our drink glasses filled without us ever looking her way. No bad service at our table on this night, that is for sure!

Before our first trip to the buffet, Pluto and Goofy visited. By the time we were done chatting and taking photos with the dogs, Chris delivered my drink, a magical star cocktail:

This was delicious! It was one of my favorite cocktails of the week. Except by the time I got to the end of it, it was tasting just a little sun-screeny. And it was HUGE! I know it doesn't look very big in the photo, but trust me, these glasses are bigger than they appear. I could have had one of these every night and been very happy, but I wanted to taste other drinks, too. Please note the empty tables in the background of the photo. Pretty much nobody was there when we sat down.

Now the food. It was shocking! It was very good! Was it gourmet? Of course not, by any means. But it was VERY good for a buffet! MUCH better than the last time we were here, and FAR exceeding our expectations.

Let's see, pics:
Herc's main plate:

Comfort food. Mickey mac & cheese, pizza and chicken nuggets. Piles of it all. Exactly what he wanted from Chef Mickey's, what he had been craving for a few years.

Some other plates:

Peel and eat shrimp - these were small but OK. I like eating them because with the effort it takes, it forces me to eat slowly (and hopefully not overeat - *snort* AS IF!).

My salad plate - iceberg lettuce with very good, creamy (but with some bite) bleu cheese dressing, bean salad that was seasoned with cumin, pasta salad that had a sort of spicy peanuty dressing, and tangy seafood salad. Everything tasted fresh and well-seasoned. Iceberg would not be my personal choice for lettuce, but it was fine as a dressing vehicle. Otherwise, I have nothing negative to say about the salad course. There were a few other things there that even looked appealing, but my plate was full, so it didn't make the cut.

Roast beef (I guess it wasn't prime rib, I think they call it roast strip loin?) Perfectly cooked, very tender, tasty, and served au jus or with horseradish cream sauce. There was also ham at the carving station, but we didn't bother. You also see the parmesan mashed potatoes on this plate. Last time the texture was very gluey, but this time they were just wonderful, creamy and silky!

This is my dinner plate:

-baked salmon (it was just a tad bit overcooked for my liking, but I would expect that on any buffet; it wasn't overcooked to the point of dry, and I suspect most people would find it cooked to their liking).
-two different kinds of sauteed veggies (the green beans were absolutely delicious!), there was also broccoli with cheese sauce on the side, and though I didn't taste it, Belle did and she said it was great, the broccoli was that beautiful bright green color it should be;
-mickey head shaped ravioli which I picked more for the fun of eating it than I expected it to taste great, I left most of this on the plate
-baked turkey casserole, which I didn't like at all, but both Aladdin and Belle thought it was very tasty; it reminded me of a pot pie all mashed up.
-THE BEST AU GRATIN POTATOES EVER! Sorry, I started eating them before I took the pic. I wanted more, but somehow restrained myself! Afterall, I had to have a small piece of roast beef, since it had the horseradish cream sauce on the side, and parmesan mashed potatoes!

Sorry, this is the only dessert pic I have:

Bread pudding with caramel sauce. Sorry to say, this was the worst part of the meal. It was hard and dry, though to be fair, it was an end piece, and one of the last ones on the tray. Aladdin's had looked better, but he ate faster than I did so he probably got his about 10 minutes before I got mine. I know they brought out more, but I was full and happy to say not really needing dessert anyway, so I didn't bother. Herc and Belle enjoyed the Mickey mousse domes (oreo cookes with choc moose on top, coated in chocolate with ears sticking out). I have tasted these in the past and the kids told me they were just as good now. Chris also surprised us with a vanilla cupcake with a candle in it for Belle. It was the same cupcake that was available on the buffet, but she loved it for the attention! The soft-serve ice cream looked very watery, and none of us bothered with that.

Aladdin and I ordered coffee and we both thought it was fine. We lingered long enough to digest a little, and we didn't feel rushed at all. The other characters that we saw between our trips to the buffet were Mickey, Minnie and Donald. We were there long enough for Pluto and Goofy to make their way back to our table and we said "hello again!" We found that the characters took their cues from us. If we chatted, they stayed and played along, if we didn't, they posed for photos and moved on. It was just as it should have been.

I have learned over our trips that it's a good idea to have some kind of question or joke ready to break the ice with the characters. It tends to get their attention and encourage them to spend a little extra time with your family. For example, we asked Donald why the restaurant isn't called Chef Donald's, what's up with that?! And he spent a lot of time with us and it was very funny.

Overall, this was a wonderful meal and an excellent way to spend our first dinner in WDW. While the food wasn't gourmet, it was all good and satisfying AT LEAST, while some of the offerings were even VERY YUMMY! If you are scared about trying it because of all the bad reviews, I say go for it and decide for yourself. You may come away VERY PLEASANTLY SURPRISED!!!

My DD said your bread pudding was a "hidden winnie-the-pooh" ...I am not sure she's wrong.

 

[Inspire&Imagine]

*mouth watering*

Belle surprised us by ordering the pasta dish.This was a nice al dente cavatelli with a variety of tomatoes and fresh shaved parmesan cheese. She loved it.

The biggest surprise of the night was Herc's choice, the salmon. He likes salmon just fine, but what really pursuaded him to order it this night was the preparation: with roasted fig risotto and black forest mushrooms in a pinot noir reduction. He was absolutely blown away by this dish. It was his nirvana on a plate. He is still talking about it, says it was the best thing he's ever tasted...and it didn't even contain cheese! He tried unsuccessfully to fall in love with other salmon dishes during the rest of the trip, and everything else fell way short. He can't wait to return to CG to order this again (if it's not on the menu, he knows exactly how to ask for it!

After our main course, it was time to step outside to watch the Summer Nightastic fireworks. What a spectacular view! We really appreciated all of the special effects on the castle from this perspective, and unanimously agreed that this view was even better than the view we had from the Poly beach. I still think I would like Wishes better from the Poly beach, because with Wishes, it is important to me to have that centered perspective. But with Summer Nightastic, I think it was more important to be closer to the castle.

When we came back in, we had some tough decisions to make about dessert. We knew we had a surprise mini wedding cake coming for Belle's birthday, but we wanted to taste a few items from the menu. Hercules was pushing hard for a cheese plate, since his main course had not contained a cheese fix for him. So we decided we'd have a cheese course, and then order one dessert (plus the cake) for our dessert course.

We had the birthday cake that we had ordered for Belle. This was so beautiful and tasted great! We were extremely happy with it, and would not hesitiate to recommend Chef Brian and Private Dining at the CR for anyone looking for a special occasion cake! Belle was absolutely thrilled!

We also needed a taste of chocolate, so we decided to go for the Valrhona Chocolate Cake.I'm pretty sure this was a homemade cherry ice cream. This cake was just delicious, and by far the best dessert of the trip!

Our overall experience here was outstanding, and it is probably our favorite restaurant dinner ever, definitely the best of this trip. (I said "restaurant dinner" specifically, because there are intangeables that go into a "dining experience" to make it super-special, and we had a few of those moments during this trip). I want to add that we did not experience a sense of loudness or chaos that we have read about in many other reviews. I don't know if the restaurant was less busy than usual on this night because of the monorail system problem, but we found it quite intimate, and would it have been easily romantic if it weren't a family celebration for us. This is as close to a must-do for us as we could find!

Hey all! Belle here. Yes, that's right I'm the daughter.

This night was absolutely magical. I couldn't have wished for anything better. I was so surprised and almost moved to tears by the cake in my favorite color icings and with butterflies (butterflies follow me around).

The family has this inside joke that I always order the best dishes, no matter what restaurant. This has been a lasting legacy for the past few trips! This is the one night I can remember Herc beating me for the best dish.

But he didn't beat me for desert. That was purely magical; no one could.

I will always be appreciative of my family for making this night such a memory <3

 

[iloveeeyore]

Great reviews, thanks for sharing!

You are welcome! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

Thanks for sharing your reviews we chose 4 of the restaurants you reviewed. But after I read your Le Chefs de France review I fell like I NEED to go there! Looked delish!

Yes, Les Chefs is wonderful! Now that Remy is there at certain times, that one thing that was missing, something special and entertaining for the kids, has been added. I would consider it a perfect dining experience...at least for us.

All of the pictures look delicious! Then again, when it comes to food, I always find my mouth watering at pictures of it. They are very kid friendly, but I think that I would have dug into that pizza, mac and cheese, chicken nugget combo over anything fancier! Definitely worth the 7lbs!

Absolutely worth it. I don't regret even one bite. Herc was just talking yesterday about how much he loves that plate of comfort food from CM. It's funny, because he doesn't eat like that anywhere else anymore. There's something about CM that brings us all back to our younger days,

Fabulous reviews! In particular I loved your Chefs de France review- the food looked great! Looking forward to eating there for the first time in September.

I hope you love it as much as we do! Thanks for enjoying my reviews.

Even the corn bread looks delicious. Thanks for sharing.

The corn bread is the best part! Thanks for reading!

Just stumbled on your dining report...great reviews and pics! Really enjoyed it!! Thanks!

Thank you for reading, and please stay tuned.

My DD said your bread pudding was a "hidden winnie-the-pooh" ...I am not sure she's wrong.

It absolutely IS a hidden Pooh! How great is that? I was looking for an upside to that bread pudding. Thanks to your DD, I've found one.

Stay tuned everyone! Earl of Sandwich lunch is coming up.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Hey all! Belle here. Yes, that's right I'm the daughter.

This night was absolutely magical. I couldn't have wished for anything better. I was so surprised and almost moved to tears by the cake in my favorite color icings and with butterflies (butterflies follow me around).

The family has this inside joke that I always order the best dishes, no matter what restaurant. This has been a lasting legacy for the past few trips! This is the one night I can remember Herc beating me for the best dish.

But he didn't beat me for desert. That was purely magical; no one could.

I will always be appreciative of my family for making this night such a memory <3

Why, Miss Belle! I can't thank you enough for gracing my humble dining report with your royal beauty and elegant taste! Believe me, no one deserves a night of enchantment more than yourself. I wish you many, many more moments of pure magical bliss. I don't know what we're going to do for your 17th, but I imagine it won't beat your 16th...though it will probably involve you driving.

 

[iloveeeyore]

We were moving from the Poly to AKL on this day, and decided that we would sleep in a bit, check out of the Poly and let WDW staff move our luggage, and grab a bus to DTD. My favorite CS lunch place is at DTD, WPE, but since we have been reading so much great stuff about EoS here on the Dis, we thought we'd give it a try.

It was very, very good. We passed 4 different sandwiches around and they were all yummy. We ordered one each of The Original 1762 (Aladdin), The Earl's Club (Belle), Caprese (me) and The Italian (Herc).

The Original 1762:

The Earl's Club:

Caprese:

The Italian:

I think we all liked the Earl's Club and The Original Best. If I remember correctly, we were slightly disappointed with The Italian, and The Caprese met our expectations.

If I ever go back to DTD (which I'm not sure I will), I will definitely go back to WPE. Not that EoS wasn't delicious, it was. It was...a really good sandwich place. We were able to avail ourselves of a 15% AAA discount, which was a nice bonus. WPE seems to have a bigger selection and is a better value, IMO, especially on the DDP (which we weren't). Aladdin prefers EoS. Sometimes, he just wants a sandwich.

Oh, how could I forget...dessert! We have always wanted to try Ghirardelli!

We shared a Mint Sundae:

And a Peanut Butter Sundae:

Oh, my! Now this ice cream might be worth the trip to DTD. Heavenly!

Coming up next, dinner at Sanaa!

 

[MAGIC...itis!]

Thanks for a great report. Fantastic easy-to-use index with page & post # for each location.

Late to the party, but I am all caught up and awaiting more...