Buffets at Walt Disney World - Episode 177 of The Disney Exchange Podcast

The Disney Exchange is Lisa, Dave, and me, Nick

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I'm going to be honest. I have no idea what was discussed early on in the show since I was working.
When I finally got an opportunity to join in, Lisa and Dave were talking buffets at Walt Disney World.

I tried to be involved as much as possible, but my work vehicle is incredibly noisy, so I apologize for what will likely be somewhat distracting. To make things even more interesting, Lisa had some internet connectivity issues. We apologize for that as well.

Hang in there though, please, as I am sure it is a great show. Right?

The Wheel of Distiny topic this week: What is the one thing you are looking forward to the most in Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios?

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Lunch at Hollywood and Vine at Disney's Hollywood Studios

By Nick

 Me and Jake

Because we are fortunate enough to visit Walt Disney World at least once a year, and because we like to try a new eatery each trip there are not a lot of restaurants Barbie and I have not eaten at in the theme parks.

We had never been to Hollywood and Vine at Disney's Hollywood Studios, however, because we don't have children, and I thought it was just another buffet with characters from Disney Junior that we are not familiar with except in seeing them in commercials or on merchandise at the Disney Store.

Boy was I wrong! Not about it being a buffet with unfamiliar characters, but it isn't just another buffet FOOD wise! The food was delicious!

But, let me back up. The reason we went in the first place was because we were invited by our friends Kandi and John, who were taking their children Jazzlyn and Grayson to enjoy the Disney Junior Play 'n' Dine.

Jazzlyn and Handy Manny

The food; There are plenty of options for all palates, including several soup and salad options and a variety of dressings. Soups the day we visited were Mushroom Beef and Barley and Tomato Florentine.

In addition to the fruit salad and mixed greens, there was Crispy Asian Chicken Salad and Italian Sub Salad, both of which were very tasty. Especially good was the chicken in the Asian Chicken Salad. It was almost worth the visit just for the latter 2 options!

Continuing on down the line, offerings are equally as diverse, including Brown Rice Quinoa Pilaf, Baked Chicken, Sweet Plantain with Corn Relish, and Sweet and Sour Pork Loin, which was another favorite.

Slow Cooked Ale Braised Beef (so good), Garlic Smashed Potatoes (these too!), Bean Cassoulet, the Chicken Breast Asiago Creamy Ranch was a bit dry, Tri-Color Tortellini Pasta with Chorizo Meat Sauce, and Maple Mustard Glazed Salmon (delicious!).

The Lobster and Shrimp Macaroni and Cheese sounded awesome, but sadly I have an allergy to shell fish! The BBQ Meatballs were just okay, in my opinion, Cream Corn Spoon Bread was good, Sauteed Green Beans, Chipotle Citrus Barbecue Chicken (great!) and butter corn.

Kids options include Chicken Nuggets, Macaroni & Cheese, and Broccoli.

For dessert there is a chocolate fountain, with plenty of dipped goodies, like pretzels, marshmallows and fresh fruit. There are also cookies, cakes and soft serve ice cream.

 

As for the play portion, Handy Manny, Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Doc McStuffins, and Sofia the First come around for photos with guests, and there are several sing and dance alongs.

So, would we return, sans children? Probably not for lunch, but dinner is character free, and has a few more entree options.
Would we suggest it for friends with young kids? Absolutely! It's fun for them, and the food ranges from pretty good to excellent.

Do You Remember: When Tusker House Was a Counter Service Restaurant?

By Nick

Tusker House at Disney's Animal Kingdom is an awesome buffet, but do you remember when it was an equally awesome counter service restaurant?

In fact, this was where Barbie could find her favorite lunch item, the vegetable pita sandwich. They also had a delicious half chicken meal.

If you've eaten at both, which do you prefer?

Chef Mickey's in Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort

By: Nick

I've eaten at Chef Mickey's twice in the last several years. Once with our Godson, Flynn, back in 2009, and just a couple of months ago with our friends Kandi and John and their kids Jazzlyn and Grayson.

 Me, Jazzlyn, Barbie, Kandi, Grayson, and John

I'm going to just come out and say it. It's my least favorite buffet in Walt Disney World.

It's not bad, but I have some issues.

Let's look at the good first. The Fab Five, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy, are here, and that is truly awesome!

 None of our Minnie Pics came out well!

They come around often and spend quality time with each table. Periodically, there is even an opportunity for kids and adults to cut loose with the characters!

The not so great?
The layout of the restaurant, which is located in the Contemporary Resort, is just odd.

Somehow, both times we've eaten here, we have been put up in an upper corner. This past time, it was a very dark corner.

There really shouldn't be any dark corners in a character buffet, in my opinion.

Then, there is the food. It's not bad, I just don't feel it's on par with other Disney buffets, with the exception of the desserts.

There are a variety of salads and a soup du jour, as well as sushi and pick and peel shrimp.

There is Mac and Cheese, Chicken nuggets, pasta and meatballs.

Some of the better items were the small individual dishes, such as the Braised Beef. The Lemon Pepper Chicken was pretty good also.

There are a few other seafood selections as well as BBQ ribs.

The carving station included turkey and beef.

The desserts include a variety of cakes, cream puffs, and cookies, as well as ice cream.

I can see why this would be a top priority for kids with the Fab Five, but I don't recommend this buffet when there are so many other better character dining options, such as Crystal Palace and Chip 'n' Dale's Harvest Feast at the Garden Grill.

A Not Very Hoop Dee Doo Revue

by Nick 
Note: 
I originally wrote this for the Tips From the Disney Diva and Devos Blog, for which I'm a contributing writer, back in 2012. I haven't shared it previously because it's not a very positive review of one of Disney's most beloved shows. But I recently was reminded just how much good or bad  service can affect our experiences at Disney Parks when my friend Lisa posted an excellent article on her blog, Living a Disney Life: Empty Nesting with Pixie Dust, discussing how poor service ruined her experience at our favorite restaurant, The Hollywood Brown Derby.
 

Since I first started going to Walt Disney World in 1992, I have been told that I absolutely must see the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review. “It’s the best show on Disney property”, “A trip wouldn’t be complete without an evening at Hoop-Dee-Doo”, and “I’ve seen it every year since I started coming to Disney World” are just a few of the comments I’ve heard when I’ve talked about this show with others. How could this show stand up to this level of hype?
Sadly, for me, my wife, and friends, it didn’t.
Now, before you post negative comments asking “how could you criticize our favorite thing at Disney”, let me give you a review of my experience.
The evening I saw “the Hoop” (I just made that nickname up, feel free to use it.) was towards the end of an absolutely wonderful trip, filled with more than a couple of outstanding cast member interactions and magical moments! After hearing about 20 years of praise for this show, my expectations were obviously high.

Here I am, on the right, with our friends, excited and hungry.
Just look at the eager “Show me a good time face.” I have on!

The Show is at Pioneer Hall, at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. You’ll have to take a boat or a bus to Ft. Wilderness from Magic Kingdom or another park in order to get there as there are no buses that run between resorts.

Inside the hall:

To make my anticipation even greater, we had gotten 3rd tier seats, but because the show wasn’t even half booked, we were seated on the floor, not to far from the stage!! This, I thought, was great, a magical start to the evening!

Sadly, the evening didn’t turn out so magical. To start, our server didn’t come around to take a drink order for several minutes. Then, certain things made me feel perhaps he wasn’t in the best of moods. I just got a slightly surly vibe. Throughout the meal, for drinks we had to flag him down. Our food came out last, some tables were already well into their buckets of fried chicken before we even started eating.

And, I’m not sure if it was because we were served our food later, but, while we were in the middle of eating, the lights went down, and the show resumed, so we were essentially eating in the dark.

Then there was dessert. Strawberry Shortcake. The cast literally stages a big song and dance number about this Strawberry Shortcake. With the wait-staff participating in it, even!
Our server is actually in this photo holding a tray of Shortcake.

We never got ours! Our server danced off the stage, dropped off cake to our surrounding tables, and we never saw him again! Not once. No “would you like some coffee?” or “and how is your cake?”.
I even tried to flag down another staff person, but they didn’t see me, and then they were gone.
I was so annoyed, I couldn’t enjoy the last portion of the show, which is why there are no more pictures to share with you!

Our friend, John, who had made the reservations, spoke to a manager afterwards, and we got half of our admission back, plus 2 Strawberry Shortcakes to go. Still, it was a bummer and proof that sometimes having a bad customer service encounter changes the entire dynamic of the experience.

Now, I don’t want to give the impression it’s all bad. The food is terrific, but the exact same food plus more can be found next door at Trail’s End Buffet for much less, and I’ve never had poor service.

Aaaaand in my opinion, the show is just okay.
It’s a little outdated, and not just in a classic Disney kind of way.
Could my judgement be tainted by the over hype and poor service?
Absolutely, and I would not try to discourage anyone from seeing the show, it just wasn't for me.

Have you ever had a bad Cast Member experience?

1900 Park Fare

Editors Note: I posted a very similar article to this yesterday, but my friend Gaylin sent this the day before I published mine, and she did not have prior knowledge of that article.
Despite having never met, and living thousands of miles apart, we share a love of Disney, and are very much on the same wavelength. As they say, great minds think alike.-Nick

by Gaylin

I do love Walt Disney World dining and do try to go someplace different at least once a vacation. I also am a fan of buffets as I have found Disney makes it easy to get safe allergy friendly food! When you arrive at the front podium to check in, let them know you have allergies and once you are seated a chef comes out and does a walk through of the buffet and shows you what is safe.

That being said, really I love the buffets where I get to interact with characters! 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian is one such restaurant. We had dinner reservations for the first seating and got to the resort early to walk around, enjoy the ambience and take some photos.

Then it was time to check in, shortly after we had our first plates from the buffet, a grand announcement goes up and Prince Charming and Cinderella come out! Very exciting. As they start to circulate and take photos, out comes Lady Tremaine with her daughters, Drizella and Anastasia.

Me and the Prince, and yes he was very charming!

I always feel like a scruffy step-daughter beside Cinderella in all her finery. She was so sweet!

 

I did try but I just can't do the Lady Tremaine face, must be the make-up . . . and that hair!

Anastasia was quite happy that we were in matching pink, see her beautiful smile . . .

Drizella was not so impressed that I matched her sister, sorry. I did try complementing her on her lovely make-up but she informed me that she wasn't wearing make-up, this was her natural beautiful state. Oops, my bad.

We did have a great meal, I got a special dessert made just for me, we left full and happy.

Dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian

By: Nick Maglio

This is going to be a different type of dinner review as I'm not really going to go into detail about the food at Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.
The food is good, and includes a salad bar, several soups and stews, Smoked Beef Strip Loin, Pork Roast, salmon filet, paella, vegetable alfredo pasta, chicken marsala, mashed potatoes, green beans, jasmine rice and several desserts.
The kid's station includes Roasted Chicken, Cheese Pizza, Whole Grain Elbow Pasta, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Broccoli and Carrots.
The real reason to eat here are the characters.
Cinderella and Prince Charming are very nice.

 Barbie, Cinderella, and our friend Kandi.

Barbie, Prince Charming, and Kandi.

But the highlight is Cinderella's evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and stepsisters Anastasia and Drizella. They are truly hilarious, and really made our evening. Make sure to pose for a photo with them!

Kandi, Lady Tremaine, and me.

Lady Tremaine making a snide remark about Kandi's Disney Marathon medal.

Barbie, Anastasia, and me.

Anastasia asks if the pink ring on Barbie's hand was an engagement ring, 

and says she'd love one just like it, as it matches her dress prefectly.

Drizella, and her prettiest smile!

There may be better buffets, but this interaction alone may be worth the trip to 1900 Park Fare!