tinkerbellmagic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2003
Eating cheap Dining trip report: 11/27 - 12/02
8th trip to WDW
Land/Sea
who: me & 6 yr old DGS
Well, let me start by saying I am not much into making PS. On this trip, is was only me and my DGS. He doesn't eat much and I don't like structuring my day around PS. We ate cheaply to save money and also because we knew we could eat like pigs on the cruise.
We ate at LTT, Ghirardelli's, Captain Cooks, Casey's Hot Dogs, Main Street Ice Cream Parlor, Pop Century Food Court, and other counter service.
Liberty Tree Tavern Character Dinner at MK: Our splurge! This is our third time eating here in 3 years - thumbs up! We have PS for 5:25 on 11/30 right before MVMCP. In 2002, we waited about an hour for our table. In 2003, we waited about 5 mins for our table. This year, we wait about 30 mins or less. It is such a festive atmosphere, we don't mind. I do wish when they call out your name, they would either use a small microphone or speak loudly and clearly. It's difficult to hear over the noise. Our waiter is very nice. Even though the restaurant is busy and noisy, we don't feel rushed, like we have in the past. The bread basket is delivered to our table. We do not have to request it (like others have mentioned here). Let me say these rolls are out of this world. So warm and delicious with the honey butter. Love the salad with the strawberry dressing. Mashed potatoes and gravy - very good. Meats - good. Dressing/stuffing - just ok. Macaroni and cheese - I'm not a fan of this stuff, but DGS ate it. Warm apple crisp with vanilla icecream - this is most delicious! The warm apples and cold ice cream make for a wonderful combination. YUM! You do not go hungry here!
CHARACTERS: Minnie, Chip, Dale, Goofy, and Pluto. Interaction is great. They visit our table more than once, which is a first. Minnie looks adorable in her colonial attire. DGS loves Chip and Dale.
We would do this dinner again. It's become a tradition.
Ghirardelli's DTDisney- I have a 'buy one sundae, get one free' coupon here and lucky thing I do because this place is just ok. We order the hot fudge sundaes (6.50 a piece, but only paid for one with the coupon). They give you plenty of icecream, but they REALLY skimp on the chocolate topping, which is not hot or even warm. I consider myself a bit of a ice cream connoisseur and this ice cream is nothing special. I doubt I will go back to Ghirardelli's, but it was a sweet deal with the coupon.
Casey's Hot Dogs Main Street - One of our favorite spots. We eat here a few times. Love the hot dogs and the steamy buns. My only complaint -- the juggling act you have to perform trying to balance the hotdogs in the tray with the drinks while trying to apply condiments, especially if you are trying to keep track of kids. It would be great if they had cafeteria style trays. They could use more tables outside too. Where would they put them? Who knows.
Main Street Ice Cream Parlor - I love this place. We stop here twice. The ice cream is very very good. For some reason, though, it tasted better to me last year. The root beer float is pretty skimpy for the price imo, but that's Disney for ya. It wouldn't be a trip to the world without stopping here though.
Pop Century Food Court - Stopped here twice. Find the food court to be confusing. Can't find the hot dogs for DGS (which is what he will eat). I go up to a counter area where I think I see them hand a hot dog to someone. I have to ask people in line if this is the hot dog line. There are no signs whatsoever indicating what was being served at this counter area. The folks that work behind said counter aren't too interested in waiting on you either. Other than that, there seems to be a nice variety of items. I see the tie-dye cheesecake, but am too full to try it.
Captain Cooks (Polynesian) - ah, what would a trip to WDW be without enduring the food at Captain Cooks while listening to Hawaiin Christmas carols - another great tradition. Seriously, I love it and don't mind the repetition. It lets me know I'm home at WDW. The food is as bad as other counter service in WDW, but you can't beat the convenience if you're staying at the Polynesian. I'm really disappointed that they do not serve pancakes or waffles for breakfast at Captain Cooks though. DGS and I don't really like eggs and french toast. Sure, I know we can go to the Kona Cafe, but remember, we're being cheap and I don't like to waste time eating when we could be in the parks. One fun activity Captain Cooks does for the kids is display the character pictures the kids have colored. DGS always looks forward to this.
If you're going to the Animal Kingdom, I sure hope you love pretzels. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
Funnel Cakes at Epcot World Showcase - Another tradition and just as delicious as ever. Word to the wise - buy one funnel cake and split it between two people. After you eat half, you are more than satisfied and have nothing but good thoughts concerning funnel cakes at Epcot. After eating a whole funnel cake, however, you kick yourself for being such a glutton and decide if you never see another funnel cake in your life, it will be too soon, while trying to hide the tell tale evidence of powdered sugar present on your face and clothing for all the World Showcase to see. Good thing it was night time.
And finally - Cookies and Hot Chocolate at MVMCP. Last year, the hot chocolate was dangerously hot, too hot for children to handle. This year it is not. It is pleasantly hot. The cookies, however, changed. Instead of the large Christmas cookies in different shapes with red and green sprinkles, this years cookie is round and plain. DGS likes them. I don't eat mine. I save it for DGS to eat the next day, remember, we're still being cheap. Now I'm sure both cookies tasted like store bought cookies, but I kind of missed the festive shaped sugar sprinkled cookie of last year. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find these very cookies on the island of Castaway Cay, a few days later, on the cruise portion of our trip. Sheesh, I hope they weren't left over from last year.
If I can think of anything else, I will add on.
Tink
8th trip to WDW
Land/Sea
who: me & 6 yr old DGS
Well, let me start by saying I am not much into making PS. On this trip, is was only me and my DGS. He doesn't eat much and I don't like structuring my day around PS. We ate cheaply to save money and also because we knew we could eat like pigs on the cruise.
We ate at LTT, Ghirardelli's, Captain Cooks, Casey's Hot Dogs, Main Street Ice Cream Parlor, Pop Century Food Court, and other counter service.
Liberty Tree Tavern Character Dinner at MK: Our splurge! This is our third time eating here in 3 years - thumbs up! We have PS for 5:25 on 11/30 right before MVMCP. In 2002, we waited about an hour for our table. In 2003, we waited about 5 mins for our table. This year, we wait about 30 mins or less. It is such a festive atmosphere, we don't mind. I do wish when they call out your name, they would either use a small microphone or speak loudly and clearly. It's difficult to hear over the noise. Our waiter is very nice. Even though the restaurant is busy and noisy, we don't feel rushed, like we have in the past. The bread basket is delivered to our table. We do not have to request it (like others have mentioned here). Let me say these rolls are out of this world. So warm and delicious with the honey butter. Love the salad with the strawberry dressing. Mashed potatoes and gravy - very good. Meats - good. Dressing/stuffing - just ok. Macaroni and cheese - I'm not a fan of this stuff, but DGS ate it. Warm apple crisp with vanilla icecream - this is most delicious! The warm apples and cold ice cream make for a wonderful combination. YUM! You do not go hungry here!
CHARACTERS: Minnie, Chip, Dale, Goofy, and Pluto. Interaction is great. They visit our table more than once, which is a first. Minnie looks adorable in her colonial attire. DGS loves Chip and Dale.
We would do this dinner again. It's become a tradition.
Ghirardelli's DTDisney- I have a 'buy one sundae, get one free' coupon here and lucky thing I do because this place is just ok. We order the hot fudge sundaes (6.50 a piece, but only paid for one with the coupon). They give you plenty of icecream, but they REALLY skimp on the chocolate topping, which is not hot or even warm. I consider myself a bit of a ice cream connoisseur and this ice cream is nothing special. I doubt I will go back to Ghirardelli's, but it was a sweet deal with the coupon.
Casey's Hot Dogs Main Street - One of our favorite spots. We eat here a few times. Love the hot dogs and the steamy buns. My only complaint -- the juggling act you have to perform trying to balance the hotdogs in the tray with the drinks while trying to apply condiments, especially if you are trying to keep track of kids. It would be great if they had cafeteria style trays. They could use more tables outside too. Where would they put them? Who knows.
Main Street Ice Cream Parlor - I love this place. We stop here twice. The ice cream is very very good. For some reason, though, it tasted better to me last year. The root beer float is pretty skimpy for the price imo, but that's Disney for ya. It wouldn't be a trip to the world without stopping here though.
Pop Century Food Court - Stopped here twice. Find the food court to be confusing. Can't find the hot dogs for DGS (which is what he will eat). I go up to a counter area where I think I see them hand a hot dog to someone. I have to ask people in line if this is the hot dog line. There are no signs whatsoever indicating what was being served at this counter area. The folks that work behind said counter aren't too interested in waiting on you either. Other than that, there seems to be a nice variety of items. I see the tie-dye cheesecake, but am too full to try it.
Captain Cooks (Polynesian) - ah, what would a trip to WDW be without enduring the food at Captain Cooks while listening to Hawaiin Christmas carols - another great tradition. Seriously, I love it and don't mind the repetition. It lets me know I'm home at WDW. The food is as bad as other counter service in WDW, but you can't beat the convenience if you're staying at the Polynesian. I'm really disappointed that they do not serve pancakes or waffles for breakfast at Captain Cooks though. DGS and I don't really like eggs and french toast. Sure, I know we can go to the Kona Cafe, but remember, we're being cheap and I don't like to waste time eating when we could be in the parks. One fun activity Captain Cooks does for the kids is display the character pictures the kids have colored. DGS always looks forward to this.
If you're going to the Animal Kingdom, I sure hope you love pretzels. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
Funnel Cakes at Epcot World Showcase - Another tradition and just as delicious as ever. Word to the wise - buy one funnel cake and split it between two people. After you eat half, you are more than satisfied and have nothing but good thoughts concerning funnel cakes at Epcot. After eating a whole funnel cake, however, you kick yourself for being such a glutton and decide if you never see another funnel cake in your life, it will be too soon, while trying to hide the tell tale evidence of powdered sugar present on your face and clothing for all the World Showcase to see. Good thing it was night time.
And finally - Cookies and Hot Chocolate at MVMCP. Last year, the hot chocolate was dangerously hot, too hot for children to handle. This year it is not. It is pleasantly hot. The cookies, however, changed. Instead of the large Christmas cookies in different shapes with red and green sprinkles, this years cookie is round and plain. DGS likes them. I don't eat mine. I save it for DGS to eat the next day, remember, we're still being cheap. Now I'm sure both cookies tasted like store bought cookies, but I kind of missed the festive shaped sugar sprinkled cookie of last year. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find these very cookies on the island of Castaway Cay, a few days later, on the cruise portion of our trip. Sheesh, I hope they weren't left over from last year.
If I can think of anything else, I will add on.
Tink
