Dining Reviews from 9/9-9/16 including 2 birthdays!

[100AcreWood]

We just returned from a week of dining.
(Not free dining - we actually stay offsite).

9/9 - NINE DRAGONS in EPCOT was terrific! Service was wonderful. We did the dinner for two - honey sesame chicken and shrimp and vegetable. Everything was delicious! Dd had the fried rice kids meal.

9/10 - CRYSTAL PALACE at MK was awful. It went from being our favorite buffet to doubtful we'll go back for many many years. We had actually planned to celebrate dd's 4th birthday with Pooh and thank goodness we had a backup plan for later in the week. We arrived just before 5 for our 5pm dinner reservations. We were finally seated after 5:30PM. People were very upset and as you can imagine the little kids were getting restless waiting outside for so long. I mentioned to the hostess we were celebrating dd's 4th birthday and she didn't even look up. When we were seated there was mickey confetti on the table and dd received a birthday card signed by the characters. I was celebrating my birthday on Wednesday the 12th and asked to make sure this day was all about dd and not focused on my birthday. Oh well, they gave me a card too. The food was bad and the options were very limited compared to last year. And the character interaction was shameful. I actually heard a CM tell the family behind us to hurry up and take the picture because Piglet has to go. It was sad. I think the big reason we pay for character meals is the hope for 2 minutes of time. So then the big disappointment. Another kid received a cupcake and half the restaurant sang to him. Dd was getting excited. And out came two cupcakes for us and our waitress slowly sang Happy Birthday. No audience participation for us. Of course the biggest disappointment was no birthday cake. I ordered it three weeks prior and was so mad when I saw the cupcakes I didn't say a thing. There was no point in mentioning it because who cares about cake after you started eating a cupcake. It was totally unspecial. I bit my tongue because I didn't want to ruin it for dd. She was happy with her cupcake.

9/11 - WOLFGANG PUCK in DTD was amazing as always. Dh had the macadamia nut crust chicken and I had springs rolls and caesar salad (more then enough for a meal). Dd had to send hers back since their version of mac n cheese isn't what she had in mind - LOL.

9/12 - 1900 PARK FARE in GF was finally the birthday celebration we were waiting for. Hats off to our waitress Patti who made the night very memorable. The food was great, the selection was wonderful, and the character interaction couldn't be better. Cinderella was amazing and my dd loved talking with her. And Patti brought us birthday crowns and big cupcakes. She had the restaurant sing Happy Birthday to us and dd got a special birthday placemat signed by the characters. It was awesome!

9/13 - HOLLYWOOD & VINE in MGM was very expensive for lunch. The character interaction was very good but the restaurant was barely 1/2 full. The buffet was very limited compared to our last visit in December. Fun for sure, but in my opinion not worth the money.

9/14 - RAINFOREST CAFE in DTD was great. We were ready for a good cheeseburger!

9/15 - NINE DRAGONS in EPCOT for lunch. It's our favorite restaurant!

 

[jayhjay]

Glad to hear the b-day celebration at 1900 PF was good. We are celebrating DDs third there next month. Sorry CP was disappointing though. JJ

 

[Schucraig]

Thanks for the review!

 

[Redwitch]

Glad you enjoyed WGP. We are eating there in October and I am so looking forward to it. Glad you got the a good Birthday Celebration for your

 

[MomPlanner22]

Can you elaborate more on the H&V lunch? We have an ADR for that but I am still not sure about it. What kind of food was on the buffet? Also, what did they have for the kids to eat?

How was the character interaction? I heard there is a lot of singing and dancing. I agree it is a lot of money for lunch.

Thanks for the review and in advance for responding!

 

[100AcreWood]

Hi MomPlanner22,
The character interaction was great at H&V but the restaurant was only 1/2 full. My dd didn't like JoJo. My dh and I both thought she looked a little funny (strange pink circles around her eyes). Of course the Little Einsteins looked a little strange with their big heads too. But we spent 2-3 minutes with Goliath twice. So we laughed and said, no biggee we spent some extra money for a photo session with a cute lion .

In terms of food, we were disappointed the carving station was gone. We both ate salad and I can't remember anything else on the menu that I thought was good. The desserts were the same thing you normally see at buffets. The kids area was the usual mac n cheese and other kid food. Actually I had better luck finding food at the kids area. The meatballs were pretty good.

It was fun overall, especially since Goliath was so great. But I could have seen him on Mickey Ave. that afternoon. Maybe it would be best to try their breakfast (maybe a late seating for bunch)? I know all the breakfast buffets have basically the same food - mickey waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc.

Have fun!

 

[100AcreWood]

Oh, and yes there was a TON of singing and dancing! That part was really cute.