Just back from 7 nights free dining!

[iloveeeyore]

TS - Chef Mickey's, Spirit of Aloha, 'Ohana (OOP), Biergarten (OOP), Hoop-Dee-Doo, Rose 'N Crown, LeCellier

We love the dinner shows, especially HDDR; 'Ohana is outstanding, especially the bread pudding, and we could hardly walk out of there; our first time at Biergarten and it was great; and LeCellier was incredible!

CS - Captain Cook's, Pecos Bill's, Sunshine Seasons, Flatbread Grill, Tusker House, Lotta Watta Lodge, Wolfgang Puck Express. Tusker house and Wofgang Pucks were fantastic! Only disappointment was Flatbread.

Snacks - mostly used snack credits for grab-and-go breakfast, 3x at CC's, once at Main Street Bakery, once at Starring Rolls, once at coffee stand in AKL, and one day we had "breakfast" at Aloha Isle .

We definitely got our money's worth, even if we had paid for the meal plan, but since it was free, it was an incredible deal. Another deal like this would definitely entice us to go at a time we weren't planning a trip!

Any questions?

Aloha!

 

[firkat]

Thanks for the reviews! We are staying at the Poly in 28 days! Can you share more info on 'Ohana and Spirit of Aloha? Also, how was the Hoop Dee Doo. We are doing both dinner shows too and are a little worried about overload . . .

 

[Ashley80]

So what did you think of Ohana? I'm looking forward to that one the most!

 

[Michelle2]

What was disappointing about Flatbread Grill? I was thinking of going there on our upcoming trip, but I won't if it is pretty bad.....

 

[notnothin]

Glad you enjoyed 'Ohana. We are eagerly anticipating it. Thanks for sharing your reviews.

 

[iloveeeyore]

'Ohana was just delicious, every little thing, from the chips with sauces (I especially liked the green sauce) and the salad with viniagrette to the warm, melt-in-your mouth bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce (when we ran out of bread pudding, I finished the sauce with my spoon...but please don't tell anyone else!). This was our third time at 'Ohana but our first with the new menu. I don't mind peeling and eating my shrimp, so I ate plenty of that (they were tangy and sweet), and the wings tasted better than ever (we asked for more- they were the kids' favorites). MIL and her husband didn't realize that the appetizers weren't the main course (because they are served with the cheesy potatoes and pea pods), so they were shocked when the skewers started coming (we were already pretty full). The turkey was out-of-this world, I've never had white meat turkey taste so moist! The steak was like butter and the pork was very good. I wasn't crazy about the sausages, but the other members of my party LOVED them. The eukelele player was sweet and funny, and the kids loved the games. She was teasing my husband, too, and we all got a good laugh out of it. We also lucked out and had a front-and-center view of the castle (though we were too early to watch Wishes or even EWP).

Luau - We think the food is very good (I didn't like the volcano dessert, but everyone else in my party enjoyed it). The chicken and ribs are quite tasty (I like to take the extra sauce from the ribs and spread it on the chicken for a little extra flavor). The rice and vegetables were delicious! The pineapple bread and salad were very, very good. We love the dancing at the end - there is a 45 minute show that begins after dessert is served. There is a kind-of-lame story line before that, but they dance to a few numbers from Lilo & Stitch, and we really enjoyed that also. This was our second time doing the Luau in the last 2 years, and we all agree that we enjoyed it but don't need to do it again any time soon. For dinner shows, we prefer the HDDR.

HDDR - our personal favorite and must-do every trip. Love it every time! I think this is a love-it-or-hate-it type of thing. It is hokey and corny and down-right silly, but we just love it and keep going back! The entertainment goes on throughout the meal. The cornbread and salad are yummy, the chicken and ribs are delicious and filling, and even my kids love the strawberry shortcake. Try the sangria! If you go in the mood for silly laughs and stick-to-your-ribs hearty food, you will not be disappointed! I understand that others hate it and think it's a big waste of time and money. It's definitely not for everyone. One family near us didn't even stay for dessert. I think everyone should try it once and judge for themselves. I don't think doing 2 dinner shows in 1 trip is overload. We've done it twice now. We separated them with other activities in between. This time, we did one on Saturday and one on Monday.

Flatbread Grill only had one thing made with flatbread, a chicken ceasar sandwich. It was small and dry compared to other surprisingly delicious lunches we had over the week. I thought it would have more available flatbread items, like pizza or a larger variety of sandwiches. I hadn't read the menu before we went, I was duped by the name...guess I misunderstood the topic. DH had the pulled pork, which was good, but was served on a roll. I think the only other item on the menu was a chillidog? The chocolate cake was very good, though!

 

[notnothin]

Sounds fabulous. Thanks again!

 

[i<3Disney]

Thanks for the reviews

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing

 

[english rose 47]

How was the seating at Tusker House? Have heard it's a problem and how was the food?

 

[firkat]

Thanks so much for the detailed info. I was beginning to worry about having booked both the Luau and HoopDeeDoo, but after your review I think it will be great! After all, it pretty much just depends on the attitude you go in with . . . and I plan on having a fun-loving attitude and looking for the Disney magic!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Tusker House -

This was our favorite counter-service meal of the trip! And finding seating was no problem at all and I think we ate at around 1PM! We found a small room straight ahead after you turn around with the food (instead of going off to the right.) I tried the salmon with rice and green beans (so yummy and cooked just right, FAR better than the yucky salmon at Chef Mickey's and even a little better than the good salmon at Biergarten). DH had rotisserie chicken which he greedily devoured before I could taste it (I think it came with the same delicious green beans and mashed potatoes instead of rice). Kids got cheese burgers with GREAT! french fries, greatest fries we tried all trip, I think even better than Rose & Crown. I can't remember what MIL and her DH had, but I know they both loved the food as well. The chocolate cake, carrot cake and cheesecake were delicious (in that order of preference)! We had eaten at Flame Tree on our last trip and loved it, but we wanted to try something different, especially since we were going to HDDR that night, and we're really glad we did! I imagine TH will be our favorite dining spot at AKL from now on.

Aloha!

 

[english rose 47]

Thanks so much I had just read a thread about no chairs a rude CM etc etc and was really thinking of changing my plans which was hard as TH had the things we like with picky, pickier and pickiest finding the right menu is hard and then checking out reviews.I think 1 or 2 p.m will be our time to now I've forgotten where TH is I think Africa ???

 

[iloveeeyore]

In the back left corner of Africa, near the safari and train to Rafiki's Planet Watch (which is GREAT, by the way)!

 

[english rose 47]

Thanks, I think we canarrange our touring to hit that area around 2 p.m. just before the parade or maybe wwe'll wait till after the parade.

 

[mrludwig]

Can you tell me about the Biergarten? We are thinking about going there on our next visit. I want to try some new restaurants that we have not tried before. My husband's heritage is German and I thought it might be neat to go there. Thanks!

 

[iloveeeyore]

We really enjoyed Biergarten! The restaurant is arranged in a semicircle around a stage/dancefloor. Entertainment happens for about 20 minutes every hour-and-a-half or so, so I think it's done so that everyone can see a full show at sometime during their meal. There was a band and a bell player and we really enjoyed it. Some guests got up and danced, but that particular night there wasn't much audience participation (I was there many, many years ago and recall getting up and dancing...thought more people did this)...it was early and maybe the crowd was too young?

Anyway, the food is all up in one area, but there are 2 identical sides to the buffet plus one unique middle island that has the spaetzel, sauerbraten and roast pork, which I almost missed, so make sure you don't miss it! (I only found it because I LOVE sauerbraten and was on a mission to find it; it was good, but not as good as mine ). There were many salads like pickled herring, bratwurst salad, potato and macaroni salad, a meat and cheese platter, chicken soup, pretzle bread, schnitzel (sp? - chicken cutlet), a few kinds of sausages with sauerkraut and mustards, and some salmon. I tried everything and thought it was all very good. Even my not-so-adventurous kids DD12 and DS9 really enjoyed the food. They also have a large variety of beer on tap in "short" and "tall" servings. I'm really glad I ordered the "short" dark one. I can't remember the name, but it was so cold and sweet and delicious! My MIL's DH is German, and he loved the food, but thought the schnitzel was "a little dry." I put lemon on mine, so I didn't notice.

Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Aloha!

 

[Denise Thies]

Sounds great!

 

[mrludwig]

Thanks for the review and information on the Biergarten. We may have to try it!