Having Annual Passes means infinite Disney trips, right? *COMPLETED* 6/5 California Grill Brunch

[FSU Girl]

Trip 7 - 1/13-1/15​

Narcoossee's Continued



The kids cheeseburger served with fries and green beans. She liked this and ate everything except the green beans, which we did make her eat one so she could have something healthy.



The kids chicken fingers served with fries and green beans. This was declared delicious and it was a close competition with these fries and the ones consumed at lunch.



From Disney's menu: Native Hebridean Salmon, Sea Island Peas, Carolina Gold Rice, and Wild Chanterelle Purée with House-made Vidalia Onion Relish

My fiance got the salmon and said it was really good. I didn't try any, but there was nothing left on his plate by the end of the meal.



From Disney's menu: Wild Caught Shrimp and Garganelli Pasta, Wild Gulf Shrimp, Savoy Spinach, Oven-roasted Tomatoes, Basil Pistou, Comté Cheese, Chardonnay-Garlic Cream

I really liked this dish. The sauce was creamy and delicious, the shrimp was cooked perfectly and all the flavors worked together.

I love Parmesan cheese and mentioned to the waitress at the beginning of ordering if I could have a lot. So they brought me this and I was very happy.



After the meal we were considering dessert so we had that menu brought over.



Nothing really jumped out at me and I decided the Espresso Martini sounded way better as a dessert.



More kid games were played after dinner.

One of the kids decided on the Vanilla bean ice cream.





My dessert This was delicious and a perfect way to end my day.

When everything was finished we had a little time to make it back to the hotel and watch the fireworks from our balcony. The weather app said it was 39 out, but felt like 33 degrees. As we were walking back to the main building we saw a family sitting outside watching the Movie Under the Stars. I can't imagine how cold that must have been. There were a few kids in the pool too, which I was pretty shocked by. I assumed they must all be from Canada, because this weather to a Floridian was ski jacket and gloves weather.

One of the kids watched the fireworks from the living room window since it was so cold outside. The rest of us braved the cold on the balcony to enjoy the fireworks.




I really enjoyed Narcoosse's. I know they have a few bad reviews, but our meal was pretty much perfect and the food was delicious. I'll definitely be going back there one day. Over all, I'd say I had a pretty great first day with the kids.



​

 

[disneyAndi14]

Glad you enjoyed Narcossee’s. We have never tried. The shrimp pasta is right up my alley yummy!

The chocolate martini looks like a great way to end your day.

I’m from Minnesota so right now in the dead of winter, 39 would be heavenly. I can guarantee some people would have shorts on. It is all relative, lol!

 

[SweetSerenity]

I've enjoyed reading your reports! Congratulations on your engagement!

 

[nco91590]

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your review of Remy's is amazing. And congrats again on your engagement!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

We have dined at Narcoossee's too many times to count and have always had a perfect dining experience. I'm happy to hear yours was good too...

 

[TeresaNJ]

It's been so long since we've eaten at Narcoossee's. That shrimp and pasta looks so good!

 

[FSU Girl]

Glad you enjoyed Narcossee’s. We have never tried. The shrimp pasta is right up my alley yummy!

The chocolate martini looks like a great way to end your day.

I’m from Minnesota so right now in the dead of winter, 39 would be heavenly. I can guarantee some people would have shorts on. It is all relative, lol!

It was a really nice meal and the food tasted great. I'm going to try recreating the dish I had, it's definitely something I'd enjoy often. I'm big on the tasty martinis and this drink was the perfect combination of strong alcohol and deliciousness. It was pretty easy to spot northerners in the parks. Everyone would be bundled up and then one guy would walk by in shorts and a t-shirt lol. I can't imagine how cold Minnesota is that 39 would feel hot.

I've enjoyed reading your reports! Congratulations on your engagement!

Thank you!

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your review of Remy's is amazing. And congrats again on your engagement!

Thank you! It was such an amazing meal, all the food was so good. It was the perfect proposal

We have dined at Narcoossee's too many times to count and have always had a perfect dining experience. I'm happy to hear yours was good too...

It was a really great meal I'll definitely be back one day.

It's been so long since we've eaten at Narcoossee's. That shrimp and pasta looks so good!

I'm so glad I ordered it because it was really delicious. Everyone really enjoyed their meals there.

 

[ksromack]

I'm following along because, well, we love food! And we love Disney food. Not going back until October 2 but staying for 8 nights! I'm really enjoying everyone's food reviews and because of several of you guys I'm building my list of places to eat (#1 will be Il Mulino)!

Big congrats on your engagement! We have enjoyed some great meals at a lot of the places you are reviewing here. We loved Narcoossees and California Grill and BOG. I shall be eagerly awaiting your future reviews!

 

[FSU Girl]

I'm following along because, well, we love food! And we love Disney food. Not going back until October 2 but staying for 8 nights! I'm really enjoying everyone's food reviews and because of several of you guys I'm building my list of places to eat (#1 will be Il Mulino)!

Big congrats on your engagement! We have enjoyed some great meals at a lot of the places you are reviewing here. We loved Narcoossees and California Grill and BOG. I shall be eagerly awaiting your future reviews!

I’m glad you’re enjoying my dining reviews I love food too and love trying all the Disney restaurants. We have a couple more trips before our annual pass is up so we’ve got some new restaurants on the list to try.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I really want those bowls of parmesan!

 

[FSU Girl]

I really want those bowls of parmesan!

They were delicious

 

[FSU Girl]

Trip 7 - 1/13-1/15​

Chef Mickey's Breakfast

Originally I had this breakfast at 7:30am. I figured kids wake up early and it would allow us to get an early start at Magic Kingdom after. But the day before I changed my mind since the kids wanted to sleep a little more and I was able to modify the reservation to 8:30am.



It was a very chilly morning. Today was supposed to be the coldest day of our trip and I was a little sad since I'd made custom shirts for us to wear. We ended up having the kids wear long sleeves under it and by the time the afternoon rolled around and was 50 out we all ended up taking off our sweaters so my shirts were visible

Since we were in Bay Lake Tower we all decided not to wear sweaters to breakfast since we'd only have to be outside for a minute walking across the bridge. It was a very cold minute.



The wait to be seated wasn't too bad. They had us take a family photo with a mickey statue and about ten minutes later our pager went off.

Before going here I had read horrible reviews of this place. People talked about how the food tasted gross and the service was terrible. I somewhat agree with the reviews. The food was okay, but it's hard to mess up breakfast food. I didn't go hungry, but nothing really wowed me. Our waitress was pretty much nonexistent through our meal except at the very beginning and at the end when we had to flag her down to get our check. We were also seated at the end of the character path even though we were seated first in the section. So we had to wait around twice as long as everyone else. I only made the reservation because it's the kids favorite and they did enjoy themselves.











The characters started to come over to our area when we were almost done eating. They were two tables away when a song came on and everyone danced. When the song ended all the characters left for a break. So we just kind of sat around waiting for them to come back.





Goofy dancing by the table.



We of course had to get all the characters autographs.


Continued in next post​

 

[FSU Girl]

Trip 7 - 1/13-1/15​

Chef Mickey's Breakfast Continued



Of course the kids favorite was Minnie Mouse, who was no where to be seen. A few kids at the table next to us said they saw her on the other side of the restaurant. So we waited a while for her to come around. That was okay since we were in search of our waitress to get the check and hadn't seen her in over a half hour.





The view of the Contemporary from our table.



I was trying to get a picture of the monorail going by, but I don't think it came out. We saw a few go by while we ate, which was really fun to watch. I love this hotel, it's one of my favorites, mainly due to the monorail going inside the hotel. Like how cool is that? The kids were very impressed too.

After breakfast we went back to the room and got our sweaters before walking to Magic Kingdom.

So my overall review of Chef Mickey's is...Meh. I've definitely had better Character buffet breakfasts before and I probably won't go back unless the kids request it. Since they really enjoyed it I have a feeling I will be back. ​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Your experience at Chef Mickey's was about the same as mine. Luckily I don't have children so I don't have to go back any time soon!

 

[FSU Girl]

Your experience at Chef Mickey's was about the same as mine. Luckily I don't have children so I don't have to go back any time soon!

You're lucky you don't have to go back. I don't know why Disney won't do anything about the food/service. I've seen really bad reviews online for this place, they have to know people complain about this stuff. But I guess there is little incentive to fix it when the place is booked solid year round.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We had dinner once at Chef Mickey’s and the food was comparable to the Hospital I work at so not the best. I did love the napkin twirling and the characters.

It is a fun place for the kids, glad they had fun and were able to get all the characters autographs.

 

[FSU Girl]

We had dinner once at Chef Mickey’s and the food was comparable to the Hospital I work at so not the best. I did love the napkin twirling and the characters.

It is a fun place for the kids, glad they had fun and were able to get all the characters autographs.

I agree with that lol, the food could be so much better, I don't really understand why they allow it to be so terrible. It is a fun atmosphere and I definitely wouldn't go without kids there. The autograph book we bought is cute it comes with a slot next to the signature for the picture with the character to go. The kids loved that.

 

[FSU Girl]

Trip 7 - 1/13-1/15​

Be Our Guest Lunch

After finishing up with breakfast we went back to the room and got our sweaters. It was in the high 30s and absolutely freezing at this point. We walked over to Magic Kingdom, which made the cold not seem so bad. The park was busy, but didn't feel too crowded, especially for a holiday weekend. We had a fast pass for Space Mountain, but the ride was down. So instead we went on the People Mover so we could see the ride with all the lights on.





I've never seen it like this before and thought it was really cool and unique. The kids said it was like getting a free backstage tour.

We went on Tomorrowland Speedway next. This was the first time I went on this ride as an adult. The last time was when I was probably 8 and I thought it was so sweet how the little one "called" riding with me. Proud step mamma moment.



She did an excellent job driving.

We went on a few more rides and caught a bit of the muppet show. Since this premiered I've been wanting to see it, but we were always in the wrong part of the park when it was going on. This time we just happened to be walking by so we stopped to watch. The kids liked it, but they've never watched anything muppets before and didn't really know what was going on.



We got to our Be Our Guest lunch 15 minutes early and they told us they wouldn't talk to us until it was 5 minutes before our reservation. So we just hung out for a bit and people watched. A lot of people got in line without reservations and were turned away. One lady said she didn't see any reservations on the app so she came here thinking it must be broken and wanted to be seated. She didn't leave for a while, even after they explained the reason she didn't see a reservation was because they were fully booked.

So we pre-ordered this meal. I had read on here how the line to order there is very long and if you pre-book its much quicker. They have two lines, one to the left if you pre-ordered and one to the right if you didn't. The line to the right was very long, whereas our line had no one in it. I waited at the edge of the bridge for a cast member to tell us what to do. One waved us to come forward and I heard some guy yelling at me that I'm cutting the line. I ignored him, it's not my fault he didn't order ahead of time and didn't understand there were two lines. He was not happy.

Paying was quick and easy, but if you are planning on splitting the check you won't be able to pre-order.

Inside the restaurant was packed and we didn't see many open tables, so we headed off to the library side. I've never eaten in this room before so it was a fun new experience.





A cast member checked our receipt and said our food would be out shortly. I think they may have forgotten, because a half hour later we still didn't have food. We ended up flagging down a cast member to help, who went and got the food.

When we went, they had just switched over from using real plates to cardboard. It made it feel a little less elegant, but I didn't really notice the difference while eating.



I got my usual: Carved Turkey Sandwich served warm on a Baguette with Dijon Mayonnaise and Pommes Frites.

This can sometimes be a little dry, so I asked for some mayonnaise on the side.



The kids got the same thing from the kids menu: Carved Turkey Sandwich on Multigrain Bread with Sweet Potato Wedges and Peach Applesauce. Instead of the potato wedges and applesauce they got french fries and a chocolate chip cookie.

Sad to say, the kids did not like this restaurant. They were not fans of the food and barely ate anything. They did like how the inside of the restaurant looked and thought it was cool to be in Beast's castle, but that was about it. Still, it was a good choice since it gave us some time to relax inside.



My fiance got his usual: French Dip Sandwich served on a Baguette with Au Jus and Pommes Frites.

He really enjoyed his meal. So in the future we won't bring the kids back here, but the adults will be returning. I actually snagged a dinner reservation the other day for my upcoming trip in March.

After lunch we went on a couple more rides (never got on Space Mountain, when it reopened it had a four hour wait for standby and the fast pass line was all the way past the People Mover) and decided to watch the parade before heading back to the hotel.



I thought this seagull was really cute, it totally thought everyone was gathered there to watch him.

We went back to the hotel to relax for a little before our dinner at Ohana that night. ​

 

[kastoney]

So glad to see you all loved Narcoosee,as it is one of our favorites. The shrimp pasta you had is probably my all time favorite. I'm not sure how chardonnay, shrimp, and cheese all work together but work they do!

Sorry to see that Chef Mickeys was a disappointment though. And what's up with the cardboard plates at BoG? I get its the same food, but that certainly cuts into the specialness of it

 

[FSU Girl]

So glad to see you all loved Narcoosee,as it is one of our favorites. The shrimp pasta you had is probably my all time favorite. I'm not sure how chardonnay, shrimp, and cheese all work together but work they do!

I actually ordered that pasta dish because I had seen it in your reviews and it looked so good.

Sorry to see that Chef Mickeys was a disappointment though.

I didn't have high hopes going into Chef Mickeys, at least it wasn't completely inedible food like I've read before.

And what's up with the cardboard plates at BoG? I get its the same food, but that certainly cuts into the specialness of it

I'm not sure why they switched. When I was there it was a very recent change over. I'm not sure if it's saving them money or has something. It does feel less special, especially after being used to the real silverware.