Just Back... 10 day trip on the dining plan with pics! 7/10/19 La Cantina de San Angel Update

Steelersfan

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 24, 2002
We just returned June 23rd after 10 days on the dining plan. Before I start, just a little about us and the review. Going on the trip were:

Me- 50 years old and I am a big eater. The thought of a sit-down, table serve and 2 snacks did not intimidate me until now!

My wife- 48 and not a very picky eater but eats much less than I do. She has a shellfish allergy which I will talk about later.

My daughter- 15 and is not crazy about anything spicy.

Like the reviews I have written in the past, I want to be honest but realistic. I also want to put into perspective how much money these meals cost if not on the dining plan so people know. I think it is totally fair to expect pretty good food and an overall experience if paying well over $200 for a buffet. I have benefited from other reviews each trip and want to help people make a good decision about their reservations if I can. I also want to describe the overall experience including service, time spent there, character interaction, issues, etc.

I will be reviewing the following..

Table Serve:

Chef Mickey's (dinner)
Sanaa (Lunch)
50's Primetime (Lunch)
Via Nappoli (dinner)
Homecomin' (dinner)
O'hana (dinner)
Rainforest Cafe (dinner)
Crystal Palace (lunch)
Sci-Fi (out of pocket dinner with just appetizers)
Tusker House (breakfast)

Counter Serve:

Earl of Sandwich (lunch)
Cosmic Ray's (dinner)
Sassagoula Floatworks (dinner)
Be Our Guest (lunch)
La Cantina de San Angel (lunch)
Leaning Palms (lunch)
Yorkshire County Fish Shop (lunch)
Electric Umbrella (dinner)
Pinocchio Village Haus (lunch)


Let's start from day one and I will try and add one restaurant at a time.

We had a crazy 5 AM flight out of Pittsburgh on Southwest. We knew that this would make for a very long day so we decided to start the day with an early lunch at Earl of Sandwich since we were staying at the French Quarter. We tend to do this every trip because our room is usually ready when we get back before heading out.

The first time we ate there I had the beef and bleu which is no longer on the menu. I had the Hawaiian the last few trips and debated for months as to which to get this time. I switched it up this time and went with the holiday turkey with a side of potato salad and a fountain drink. DSCN4726.JPGDSCN4728.JPG

This was unique and I would probably get it again. The price was around $15 which is standard for WDW but is much more than the quality of food was worth if this restaurant was home. My wife got the Original 1762 with cheddar and horseradish sauce. This is her "go to" here and she said it was good as usual. She got a bag of chips and a fountain drink for around $12.50.

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Finally our daughter wasn't in love with any offerings so they made her an adult grilled cheese sandwich. She had the pasta salad as a side and she liked both very much and actually raved about the grilled cheese. She also had a fountain drink.

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The meal here was very good as always and we got through the line quickly. There were plenty of places to sit because we were there shortly after 11 AM. I always tell people that this place is an excellent place to break up the counter serve meals because there is so much diversity in the menu. It also allows soft drinks to be refilled, which is a bonus. I would not pay the $45 dollarish bill for this at home but it is a fair value at WDW. Keep in mind that the portions here are not huge. This is good and bad. If on the meal plan and a big sit-down is planned for the second meal this is perfect! If you are paying for this and it is the main meal of the day it isn't as great a value. Also factor that anything at Disney Springs is going to require a substantial time commitment to get there. If this place was located in a park it would be a no brainer, especially on the dining plan.

One side note is that when we went to pay, the pin number with our account did not work. They could not reset it at the restaurant so luckily I had a gift card to pay with because we had all money and cards with us since we had to store our carry on bags at the hotel. This ended up being a major pain and started the trip negatively. First, the cashier at Earl told us to go to guest services and they could fix it. We did and they couldn't. This caused a second wait back at the hotel where they just credited the money spent to our account and charged us the three credits. I actually had to argue with the cast member at French Quarter because he was saying the pasta and potato sides were not included on the meal plan but everything under $4 was. It was very annoying.

Just a note to everyone... reset your pin at the hotel before doing anything. They said it was common for the pin entered in the early check-in to not work. Avoid the hassle and only stand in one line!

After getting all that straightened out, the room still wasn't ready (but it was still well before 3 PM) so we just went to the Magic Kingdom to use some fastpasses and eventually hit our first sit-down of the trip, Chef Mickey's which I'll post next!
 
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We love EOS although it isn’t the best value qs. Makes a change though from the other offerings. Looking forward to more.
 
Thrilled to see another Stillers fan around these parts!!! Sorry the magic band gave your difficulty, but otherwise looks like Earl of Sandwich got you off to a good start.
 
After a great, but short day in the Magic Kingdom, we headed to Chef Mickey's. We had a 7:10 reservation and we were seated early.

I decided to get a Moscow mule as my beverage. This was the only restaurant that not only allowed, but encouraged us getting a soft drink also. I forgot just how good these were.


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My wife also had an alcoholic drink which she rarely does. The drinks were on a different menu and were around $15 each.

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Here are some samples of different plates. There was no Mickey ravioli, which was a disappointment, but the perogi and everything else, especially the potatoes were delicious.
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I believe this was my daughter's first plate. Some was from the child's section.
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The corn bread was excellent.
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The best part of Chef Mickey's is always the dessert!

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The Oreo and mousse Mickey's are the best!

We had read and watched many reviews saying how rushed the restaurants were. That was NOT the case for us. This experience took well over 1.5 hours. It almost felt slow at the end but that was mainly due to the early flight and the desire to go get into our room with an early morning the next day.

The character interaction was very good. In fact, that is one of the reasons it took so long. It tool the characters a long time to come around but they would stay as long as you want within reason.

The downside here is the cost. For a buffet, the food choices are diverse, fresh and very good. I have no complaints on that. The bill was well over $200 dollars for the three of us. Two alcoholic drinks and a specialty drink my daughter got pushed it up another $40 dollars or so but regardless of how good the food is, I would NEVER pay that much at home. Our tip was $35, which is about what we pay at home for a similar buffet. At WDW though, this is a good value because you are full and it costs about the same as everywhere else. Having meal plan credits helped. I'm not sure I would mentally be able to pay that much for a meal with cash!

We have been making this our arrival day evening meal the past three trips and it is nice to get started seeing Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto. I always find Donald to be the most entertaining character which is why he signs #1. This is a great choice for anyone, but especially for families that want to meet the characters.

After passing through a bag search/metal detector (which is good) to get back on the monorail, we made our way back to the French Quarter, got settled in and got ready for the best morning at the Animal Kingdom and a lunch at Sanaa. More on all of that later!
 


Loving your report so far and looking forward to your Sanaa review as I have that planned for August!
 
Great reviews so far! Appreciate all the detail you are putting in. You have me considering Chef Mickey's even though we've ruled it out for many trips :)
 


Day two we had an early Animal Kingdom day. We did Dinoland then spent a fastpass on the river ride in Pandora (Flight of Passage was unavailable until later in the trip. We then watched some drummers in Harambe which was very entertaining and did the safaris. We split and my daughter and I did Kali River Rapids and my wife did the 3D bug movie. By then it was pushing 12 and we had a 1:05 lunch reservation at Sanaa.

When we booked our sit downs in December we each picked three. This was my wife's first choice based on reviews and videos we watched. We made it there quickly and were seated before our reservation time. We also got a window table without even asking. The view here is worth the price of admission. It is easily the best themed restaurant we visited. We were also worried a little about the food, but were not disappointed for the most part!

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We started with the bread service that we happily paid for out of pocket. We liked everything except the mango chutney (2nd on the right bottom). I asked the special hot offering so we actually had 10. We were not charged for the extra ones. The hot was very spicy but I loved it. I also liked the pickled jalapeno (second on the right top) and hummus (bottom right). The pickled garlic was different but good. Our daughter found them all too spicy and just ate the bread. It is worth a trip there just for this. This was $17 and I would pay that for it both at WDW and at home.
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My wife and I had an alcoholic drink but I can't remember what they were for the life of me. Both were awesome. They were around $12 each but were covered on the meal plan.

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We paid out of pocket because our daughter really wanted the light up Buzz Lightyear. I believe it was 6 or 7 dollars. I do feel like this should be included on the dining plan since she was charged as an adult. If you can get a $12 alcoholic beverage I do not comprehend the logic as to why this wasn't included except the desire to make a bigger profit. This was very small and was for the light up, not the drink!

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It kind of made up for the Buzz Lightyear issue when the waiter said we could pick two from "the journey" for the Potjie Inspired which I knew I was getting from the day we made the reservation. I had the butter chicken and braised beef. I had the aloo masala for "the harvest" and it comes with rice. These servings were not gigantic but they were plenty of food, especially with the bread. The chicken was the best thing I ate the whole trip. It has a mild flavor and is very good. The beef had the texture and basic taste of a tender pot roast with hints of Indian/African spices that are not used as much in the US. It reminded me of the difference in the BBQ sauce at Flame Tree BBQ opposed to Sweet Baby Rays or similar. The aloo masala was very flavorful and the rice went well with everything else. I was stuffed after eating it all.

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My daughter had basically the same thing except she substituted the vegetables for the masala. Since she does not like spicy food, this was not her favorite. She ate it with the rice to help. I didn't find it spicy but she did. I also thought the hot sauce for the bread wasn't too bad when the waiter said it gets people all the time who try it. Both of these choices were $28. I thinl I would pay that at home for an treat once or twice a year.

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My wife went conservative with tandori chicken. She loved it and would order it again. Our picky daughter even liked it and said she would get this the next time. This was $17 if paying out of pocket.

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When it came time for dessert we were completely full. We were able to get the desserts to go but sadly forgot about them in our hotel refrigerator and never ate them... mostly because we were too full all the time. Judge kindly because this is how these looked a week later when we threw them out before leaving.


This "was" the spice trade candy bar. $8
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This is the mousse... I think! $8
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And the coffee??? $9
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I felt horrible not eating these but things just started coming home with us as the days went on. Without the bread service we would have eaten these and been full. With it, we just had too much. The bus driver joked about wanting it after and we should have given it to him!

The bill here was around $130 before tax and tip with all but around $25 covered by the dining plan. It is a good deal on the plan but a great deal if paying out of pocket. It would be very reasonable with the bread and entrees, just skip the alcohol and dessert. There are other items on the menu that looked even safer for someone who is not adventurous at all. Overall, at least in WDW context, this is a very good value, especially if you can get the window seat!

After we went back to the hotel for a bit and went back to the Magic Kingdom to make sure we saw the night show and fireworks. We ate dinner at Cosmic Rays and will have more on that tomorrow!
 
After recharging the batteries for a little after lunch, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. Priority #1 was making sure we saw the night show and fireworks since the weather had not been cooperative up to then. I like to get this out out of the way early to free up that time later in the trip and, more importantly, ensure we see the show. We decided to eat at Cosmic Ray's since they have a diverse menu and we like Sonny Eclipse. Well, this is just about the only memo we didn't see while planning but just to let everyone know... Sonny is MIA!

We used mobile order here for the first time ever since it is new. Tables have traditionally been at a premium here but we found one easily and just let them know to prepare our food. After a little while of hearing nothing, my wife went up to the window and our food just happened to be there. We never did get a message that it was ready for pickup. This lead to food that was edible but on the lukewarm to almost cold side. We did leave it on the table for a few minutes while we went for the fixins, straws, napkins, ketchup, etc. Some dispensers didn't work and people were struggling to just get what they wanted so it took longer than it should have, which didn't make the food any warmer. That isn't the main reason it was cold. It didn't come out hot. We were pressed for time because it was already 7:30 and we needed to eat and get a place for the fireworks so we just dealt with it and ate it anyway.


I had the burger that now appears to be off the menu. It was the combo of beef and pork with onion straws. I added pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. This was in the $15 range. The fries were a little skimpy on the amount for that price. Had this been piping hot it would have been delicious. It was still good slightly above room temperature, but I cannot rate it as it was supposed to be. We all added the soft drink and asked for water. The drinks would have been $3.99 each.
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When my wife is torn at Disney counter-serve restaurants she usually takes the safe route and gets chicken nuggets. She did the same here with the fountain drink. It is usually hard to screw up nuggets but she commented that the breading was very thick. I think the temperature of the food contributed to the breading and may have just made it taste worse because even at home, pre-breaded chicken nuggets get hard after cooling off. You have to eat them right out of the oven. She did comment that there was plenty there and the portion was large. The meal would have been $9.99 if we payed cash.
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Our daughter went with the footlong hotdog with bacon and mac and cheese. She is not nearly as picky as we are about warm food. She eats very slowly and as a result has literally eaten cold food for the second half of every meal she has ever eaten. Her meal was cold also though. This meal was massive and she could not finish it even though she had green beans as her side. I tried this and it would have been really good hot. This would have been $13.50 cash.

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In looking at this pic, I do remember that there was a random container of fries on our trays so I cannot tell if that was because the fries in with the burger and nuggets were so scrawny or they made a mistake and gave my daughter fries with the green beans. Although they were cold it is worth considering that you may get a full carton of fries with the hot dog because it takes up the whole container where there is a little room with the others.

This meal would have cost us slightly over $50 which is entirely too much for cold food but is on par with Disney prices had it been hot. There is no way I would pay that much for this food at home, though. Due to short lines, this was the only thing we mobile ordered the whole trip. I have to think that that had something to do with the temperature issue but this place has a reputation for cold food. If mobile ordering, get your table, have someone sit then go straight to the counter. Don't wait for a message that may never come. I have to think that this isn't an isolated incident and Disney will eventually work out the kinks.

Also, we should have taken the food back up and demanded hot food. Our time restraints didn't allow it and for $50 people should not have to do that. We will probably skip this restaurant next time because there are other choices at the Magic Kingdom, especially if Sonny Eclipse stays kidnapped.

Sunday we did 50's Prime Time and ate dinner at the hotel... more on those later
 
Sorry for the delay...

On Sunday we had a noon reservation at 50's Primetime Cafe. This was our daughter's pick in the restaurant draft.

Before doing the review, I need to say that we were 110% aware that there is some teasing that goes on here. This was our first time in this restaurant but we have eaten, and had ketchup delivered, at Whispering Canyon Cafe and enjoyed that experience. These types of places vary greatly based on the server so we had a VERY open mind.

I do need to say that our server's sense of humor was closer to annoying and rude than funny. He made the "elbows on the table" remark numerous times and although not original or funny, it wasn't rude. He did venture into areas such as criticizing how fast we ate, and other things that impacted the meal negatively. I only mention this because I watched the other servers and they didn't do this. It actually got to the point that I just wanted the meal to be over so I wouldn't have to stand in the corner for putting my elbows on the table for the 30th time. Once or twice is funny but this guy had a limited arsenal of jokes and went to the well entirely too often. I will chalk that up to bad luck and rate the meal without being biased by the server.

To start, if you are looking for a nice, quiet place to eat, this isn't it! It is a little cramped and extremely loud! We are totally used to this at WDW and expected it. It is no louder than Chef Mickey's or anywhere else. It just has a unique layout that doesn't transfer sound waves well. Luckily, everyone in our "room" was kind of quiet and laid back.

I started with a long island iced tea. It was just fine and would have been $12.75 out of pocket. We were not allowed soft drinks also.

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My wife had a drink I cannot remember but it came with a light up ice cube. It was in the $12 range as well. Both drinks were good but I would never pay that much for them at home or if paying out of pocket.
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Our daughter had the PB&J milkshake. She said it did not have as much peanut butter or jelly as she was expecting but it was still good. This can also be a dessert and was $9.

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For the meals I had the sampling for $24. It had meatloaf, fried chicken, pot roast and mashed potatoes. All tasted very good. no complaints about the quality.

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After some debate, my wife had the fried chicken for $24. She liked it except for the carrots that were very under cooked... almost raw.

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Our daughter had decided a long time ago she was getting the chicken pot pie for $23.

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The portions here are OK, but not huge. We may not have left completely full if not for the desserts, which were VERY good and generous in size.

I had the peanut butter cake with ice cream. It was one of the best sweets I had the whole trip. Very good! $10

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My wife had the brownie with ice cream. It was extremely rich and I would suggest the ice cream to help with that. $9DSCN4821.JPG

Our daughter had the strawberry cheesecake for $8 and liked this also.

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After doing the math, this meal came to a bit over $130 before tax and tip but could have been drastically reduced by skipping the drinks and maybe desserts. The food quality was good, just not huge portions if you are a bigger eater.

In addition to the questionable waiter as a negative, this meal took well over 1.5 hours and should not have taken nearly that long. There is a difference between not being rushed and it just taking too long. This took a little too long because we should have been through this in an hour. There were just too many periods of time that we were sitting there. After this I started asking to square up the bill when we ordered dessert just to save a little time and that helped. The long time at Chef Mickey's is so the characters can get around but that wasn't an excuse here.

Overall, I would not make this one of my picks the next trip but our daughter might because she wasn't a victim of the comedy.

We had a really bad afternoon and early evening with heavy rains moving in and staying. As a result, the dinner plans had to change. More on that next...
 
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I’m really enjoying your reviews, I’ve actually signed up to the email alerts! You’ve gone to a couple of the places I’m planning on visiting next month so it’s really useful - thank you.
 
Fun reviews! I’m heading to 50’s Prime Time in December and I’m really looking forward to it!
 
We had made every intention of trying Woody's Lunchbox towards the evening at Hollywood Studios but we had head luck with the rain so we decided to just head back to the French Quarter and eat there. No matter how much we plan, we usually end up having one counter serve at the hotel per trip. The value is fine because everyone grabbed a bottled beverage to take to the parks the next day and use dour cups.

This meal ended up being good and TERRIBLE and I will explain why as we go. When entering it is similar to a small mall food court. We went our separate ways to order with the first through grabbing a table.

The last trip I got a burger or something here so I wanted to try something a little more cajun. I ended up getting the create your own rice bowl with pulled pork. $12.99 with a bottled beverage for another $3.99 or so. I just got everything it came with. It was very good and would have been better had I noticed the hot sauce on the table when I started eating it. It was also tainted a little by what happened next...

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As I was starting to eat, my wife came to the table without food in tears. She said there was shrimp beside everything and the workers said basically "too bad, there isn't anything we can do." That NEVER happens at WDW, especially for those with a serious allergy like shellfish which she has. Every other restaurant we have visited (including this one) over the past 5 trips have made sure she receives safe food even if we have to wait a little.

I told her to ask for a chef or manager because I couldn't leave the table because kids were crawling all over every table and I didn't want my food knocked over or touched. She came back with this salad, which the chef made BUT still took the lettuce from a bin near shrimp, not out of a bag in the back like everyone else does. The cost here was similar to the rice... $18 dollars with a drink.

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She took a chance, and a dose of benedryl, because up to now any reaction is just hives and a rash that has gone away with the pills. With these kinds of allergies, anything can change and the next exposure can be life threatening. Looking back we should have made a scene and demanded 10 fast passes a day for the rest of the trip but we are not like that. We also understand that the world does not have to stop and cater to her allergy. There are some things she cannot do like go to Red Lobster for example. This was different. Disney handles allergies like this all the time and she agreed to go with a salad just to be cooperative when she wanted other things. The issue is the chef should have known better because they are trained. Literally every other place is petrified to feed her something that can cause a reaction. The actions of this work crew is going to kill someone someday and is just being too lazy to go change gloves and get a hand full of fresh lettuce that didn't have cross contaminated gloves dipping in it. That is unacceptable and actually ruined the meal. Mistakes happen but this was blatant laziness and should not happen when you pay well over 6k for a three person vacation in a "moderate" resort. Disney needs to fix this immediately and I hope my complaints make it safer for others.

Now that I'm done with that little rant, my daughter had the "create your own pasta" with alfredo sauce. Hers was in the same price range. She has eaten this before and liked it.

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Due to the allergy issue it is really hard to rate the food here fairly. It is usually good but for three people is in the $45-50 range. That is average for Disney but entirely too much if we had this same meal at home. We will have to monitor this in the months leading up to the next trip before deciding whether to stay here again. There are times, especially on the meal plan, where eating at the hotel is a must when plans change. We just cannot risk a major medical incident again. Just be aggressive but realistic with your allergies. Some things are everywhere and cannot be avoided. You should be able to get something at a food court that didn't touch something as specific as shrimp.

The Monday food experiences were MUCH better and I'll touch on those later on.
 
Enjoying the review so far, looking forward to the rest.

I really hope you have sent an email to Disney regarding the meal at FQ-no way should they be putting their customers at risk.
 
Joining in on your review. Also a Pittsburgher! We head down in just 9 days. So sorry you had to deal with a food crew that wouldn't take some basic precautions for your wife's allergy. That is completely unaccpectable! Looking forward to the rest of your reviews!
 
Joining in for the fun. Always great to "meet" someone else who plans their Disney meals months in advance! Your reviews are fantastic!! For some crazy reason I have not been to Sanaa yet. It's at the top of my list for my next trip. I'm so sorry about your meal experience at the hotel. That is unacceptable! Hopefully everything got better from there. Can't wait to hear more!
 
Enjoying your report. Looking forward to a review of Via Napoli, especially portion sizes.
 
After the questionable Sunday, we were looking forward to Be Our Guest for lunch. We liked this the last time and really enjoy the ambiance created there. We had a 9am start and got quite a bit done including two fast passes before and one after. Our reservation was for noon. There were a whole lot of people waiting to order. We did not use mobile ordering but will next time IF this is still available as a counter service lunch.

We made it through and ordered. We had a little trouble finding a room but there were many in the room with Belle and Beast dancing on what looks like a music box. We ordered cupcakes as a snack credit for dessert so when on the dining plan they ring it up as two orders. It still went without a glitch here.

The day we went they did not have the braised pork that I liked the last time. Instead it was chicken along with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Although I was planning on the pork, I still liked this very much. Looking at this pic it appears the chicken is a little off in color but it looked better there. I just had a soft drink since they were refillable. The cost was around $23 which is a fantastic deal on the meal plan. It may be a little pricey out of pocket but this particular meal is an experience, not just a meal.

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My daughter had the carved turkey sandwich and even liked the dijon mayo. She liked everything about her lunch. It would have been $16.50 if paying out of pocket.

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My wife opted for the croque monsieur. It is basically an upscale grilled ham and cheese. She really liked it and remarked how good the ham was. This was around $16

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We cashed out three snack credits for cupcakes mainly because they were good the last time and it seems like this is the only place to get them. I had the strawberry cream cheese and my wife and daughter each had the "Master's" with "the grey stuff." All were just as good as we remembered and for around $5 each they were a good snack credit value.

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We left this restaurant full but not uncomfortably full. The portions are just about the right size and the cupcakes are a good use of a snack credit. This would have cost the three of us over $60 with tax and that's not counting the desserts. On the meal plan this is a no brainer use of a counter serve credit. It will cost at least three or four dollars more per person than most counter serves but it it so unique you almost have to do it. Just make sure you book it 180 days out with your other restaurants.

We finished up at the Magic Kingdom and got ready for our favorite meal from last time in Epcot, Via Nappoli...
 
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