Yes I would like a free birthday dessert...A Dining Trip Report *Updated 6/19 Be Our Guest* COMPLETE

[FSU Girl]

We did the Pandora AP preview on the 20th and we were much more impressed than I thought we'd be! Absolutely love FoP and I also love the margarita at Pongu Pongu
Your CRT meal looks really good! We did breakfast there but with just boys I had to beg for that lol and the food was just average so I don't see us going back. The cool thing that day was that Aurora couldn't make is and Merida was there in her place; she's one of my favorites so I was excited!
We also ate at Le Cellier once years ago. We liked it except for the tables being so close I always have it in the back of my head to go back but we don't get there.

I'll have to go back for the margarita, it was so hot when we were there all I wanted to drink was buckets and buckets of water. That's really cool that Merida was there. My boyfriend is a trooper going to all the character meet and greets and dining for me. I know he wouldn't go without me, but he never complains I loved the food at Le Cellier so I'll definitely have to go back, just wish they would spread it out a bit it is a little ridiculous how could you are to your neighbors. that squished smilie is very appropriate!

 

[OasterP]

I love this review! CRT - I always say I won't book it again (and haven't so far) only because I've done it and it's expensive, but I do love it! I'm considering taking just my daughter this next trip since she will still be free and can share with me. My son did love it when he went though!

Pandora looks amazing. I probably won't be able to do FOP b/c I get super sick easily, but the boat sounds interesting.

I look forward to reading more!

 

[FSU Girl]

I love this review! CRT - I always say I won't book it again (and haven't so far) only because I've done it and it's expensive, but I do love it! I'm considering taking just my daughter this next trip since she will still be free and can share with me. My son did love it when he went though!

Pandora looks amazing. I probably won't be able to do FOP b/c I get super sick easily, but the boat sounds interesting.

I look forward to reading more!

I think going back before you have to pay for your daughter is a great idea, CRT is expensive but I really enjoyed the experience. It might be a while before I go back, but I want to go back eventually. FOP isn't too intense so you might be able to ride it okay. I don't normally get motion sickness though so I might not be the best expert on it. The boat goes through really beautiful scenery you should definitely check it out...but not if the wait time is over an hour I don't think its worth that.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Great reviews and thanks for sharing your Pandora pictures! Sounds like you guys had an awesome visit during the preview.

 

[Finkerfell]

Your reviews our wonderful! I'm enjoying them so much! Glad you posted about the Pandora restaurant. The picture of the very pink steak bowls online does not appeal to me, but your chicken dishes look very appetizing!

 

[FSU Girl]

Great reviews and thanks for sharing your Pandora pictures! Sounds like you guys had an awesome visit during the preview.

It was so much fun! It really was a magical way to experience the new land without the insane lines for everything. I'm hoping they do something like this for the new Toy Story and Star Wars lands.

Your reviews our wonderful! I'm enjoying them so much! Glad you posted about the Pandora restaurant. The picture of the very pink steak bowls online does not appeal to me, but your chicken dishes look very appetizing!

Thank you I'm glad you like them I didn't see what the steak looked like, but the chicken was delicious. Just thinking about it makes me hungry and want to go back!

 

[suse66]

So many fabulous choices! Wow, you certainly started this report off the right way with V&A! Your meal looks out this world....the brioche with herbed butter, the scallops, salmon and the chocolate souffle would all be top of my list. My DH and I ate there back in 2010 and it was one of the best meals we have ever enjoyed. The service is just sublime as well....what a treat! Hopefully we will dine again there one day.

CRT looks fun too! As a mom of all boys I have never been able to convince them to give it a shot. Maybe I'll have cute little grandchildren to take there one day or I'll just check it out on my own. I love the look of your boyfriend's dessert...was there chocolate mousse inside?

We ate at Le Cellier back on our 2009 trip. While we really enjoyed our meal, I have never been able to convince my family to go back due to the overcrowding and noise level. I do love the cheddar soup and pretzel bread though.....mmmmm! How cute is that chocolate mousse?? Or should I say chocolate moose...lol! I bet it was yummy!

Pandora looks amazing!!! How lucky you were to get in on the AP preview. I am really looking forward to seeing it all in August. I am planning on eating lunch at Satu'li as well. Your bowls look great although I really like the look of the curry vegetable pods too. I love that they are trying something different with the food and making it authentic to Pandora.

Thanks for sharing your adventures so far and I look forward to reading more!

 

[gardengirl628]

Your lunch looks really good. Can't wait to experience the new rides and eats!

 

[vettegirl]

Great reviews! That meal at V&A is my holy grail for disney dining, what a treat! Glad to hear a positive Le Cellier review. I am thinking about returning in September as it has been years since we have dined there.

 

[FSU Girl]

was there chocolate mousse inside?

I'm not sure I'll have to ask him. I know he loved it though there wasn't anything left on his plate.

Great reviews! That meal at V&A is my holy grail for disney dining, what a treat! Glad to hear a positive Le Cellier review. I am thinking about returning in September as it has been years since we have dined there.

I really liked starting with Victoria and Albert's but it does set the bar for everywhere else we went to. I had read so many bad reviews on Le Cellier before going I almost cancelled and I'm so glad I didn't! It was one of my favorites of the whole trip

 

[FSU Girl]

MAY 22nd - MONDAY
CALIFORNIA GRILL DINNER

​

So let me start off by saying this will be the one meal we did not have a good time at and will never be returning to. It's the only one of our trip we had been to before and the only one we won't be going back to.


Before this trip I had been worrying about the weather, keeping a close eye on the weather app because it was predicting rain everyday. Luckily the weather wasn't too bad the majority of my trip. This day was not one of those days. We got in a fast pass at Expedition Everest at 3pm and then high tailed it out of the park because the sky was looking really threatening. The radar was showing a lot of rain headed our way. I think this is one of the reasons I actually did not like staying at the Grand Floridian. I was surprised I did not like the hotel, I think partially due to the décor not being my style, but mostly because the buildings are not attached to the main building. I hated walking outside to get to my room and this night in particular I was really nervous I would get soaked before my fancy dinner.

When we got back to the Grand Floridian I saw the glass carriage with a new bride and groom in it. It's my dream to get married at Disney and ri

Our reservation was for 7:35pm so we left a little before 7 to go to the monorail. While we were on the monorail we could see off in the distance three separate huge rain storms, maybe one over each of the other parks?

Behind the Grand Floridian you can see a large chunk of rain. Also, do you see that one large tree by the edge of the water in front of the building? On the fourth floor directly behind that tree was our room. It blocked directly in front, but we were able to see the monorail go by on the sides.

As we approached the Magic Kingdom you could see two separate storms of rain.

The sky was looking pretty threatening. It was starting to thunder outside too. As we pulled into the Contemporary the skies opened up over us and it started to pour. It was raining so badly you couldn't even see outside it was a wall of white. We were really early for our reservation and I was hoping to see the fireworks from our table so didn't want to go up early. We hung out at the gift shop and I bought a cute picture frame with the castle on it.

When it was a couple minutes before our time we went to the second floor where you check in. They have a set of elevators that can only go up to the top floor (15th) and down to the 2nd. I had not worn my birthday button since I was all dressed up, but the girl at the podium decided I needed one and wrote me a new one.

The moment we got out of the elevators we were told our table was ready. A very nice lady walked us to our table, welcoming us back as we had dined there before. This was the only restaurant we had gone to before for our entire trip. (Be Our Guest we had done dinner before, but lunch on this trip) She was really nice and I wish she was our waitress. Our meal went pretty downhill after she sat us.

Our table had been decorated for my birthday. We had a lovely view out the windows as well.

So this was the only meal of our whole trip where we were both very disappointed and we will never be returning to this restaurant sadly. I am sad because I like watching the fireworks from here and had enjoyed it the first time we went.

So. Our waiter was not very friendly, he did not wish me happy birthday or even acknowledge it until dessert time when I had made a comment about getting the dessert for my birthday. That was fine I know it can be hit or miss if a celebration gets acknowledged, even if the whole table was covered with confetti. What I didn't like was how he seemed like we were inconveniencing him the entire night. And it's not like we didn't order much. We both got drinks, appetizer, meals and dessert. But ordering all those things were pretty painful. When I didn't know what I wanted to drink right away he disappeared for a long time before coming back. Then he rushed off to take care of a table of ten before we could tell him we would like an appetizer. I like ordering appetizers and waiting a bit to order my meal because I've had bad luck of both meals being brought out at the same time. He seemed annoyed when he had finally returned that I didn't know what I wanted for my meal.

Another thing about their menu, it was nothing like the menu online. I had checked the app as we were traveling there that day to see what I should get. I wanted to get the Seafood Ramen since I was ordering so much steak this trip. Come to find its no longer on the menu. I ended up ordering the filet mignon because nothing else appealed to me. I had the side changed from asparagus to grilled onions since I don't like asparagus he said he'd have the check with the chef as many people are allergic to onions and he wasn't sure they had any. I've never heard of anyone having that kind of allergy so I was a bit surprised, but was fine with getting something else if they couldn't do it. He returned 15 minutes later to tell me they could so he finally took our orders for our meal.

My boyfriend order a Jack and Coke and I ordered a chocolate martini.

For our appetizer we got a sushi roll the California Shrimp tempura combination roll. When we had ordered this I had thought the two would have been combined together, but they were two separate rolls. I thought these tasted okay, nothing amazing or anything. I asked for spicy mayo on the side which made this better.

After our appetizer was finished they brought out the rolls. These were just okay, nothing good or bad about them.

Now it was finally time for our entrees. It was around 8:40pm when these finally came out. When the food was brought over I noticed that the plate had the asparagus still on the plate and mentioned it to the man who was holding the food. He didn't speak a word of English and had no idea what I was saying. Then we noticed that the other meal he was holding wasn't even fish which my boyfriend had ordered. So he walked away with the plates that I'm pretty sure were meant for a different table. So then we waited about ten minutes and our waiter brought our food out. He did not apologize or even acknowledge the wrong food was brought to us. Maybe he didn't know and that man was never supposed to come over to us?

Finally had my meal. Loved my steak and risotto, hated the shallots they had on the plate. They were bitter and not well prepared at all. He said they didn't actually have onions so these shallots would do and were better. I would have liked if he would have said something before hand, but I guess that's what could happen if you ask for something not on the menu. I hadn't realized how complicated grilled onions were.

My boyfriend had ordered the grouper and had enjoyed it, but he wasn't overly impressed.

One nice thing our waiter did was bring out a surprise dessert for my birthday even though we had ordered one on the menu. He said he had been busy with the larger tables and had apologized for the waits we had had.

I was starting to get in a better mood when problems happened. First, it started to pour so the fireworks got delayed by a half hour. When it had finally stopped raining people didn't seem to want to go outside and instead crowded around the front of our table to watch. Our waiter had insisted that they would be moved when the show started and that no table would be blocked. Well that didn't happen. My boyfriend talked to the rudest manager on the planet who had said no one was allowed to stand in a walkway so a table couldn't have their view blocked, to telling us they were allowed to stand against our table, basically leaning into our food and he didn't care at all and it wasn't he problem and we should just deal with it. I'm sorry, but that is just rude. Don't tell us that people are not allowed to stand in a walkway or in front of someones table and then when it happens decide its our problem not his and he wasn't going to do anything about it. So we moved and watched from the window.

I think my biggest issue was that they told us it wouldn't be a problem to it suddenly becoming a problem for only us and the manager was just so nasty about it. It ruined the entire night. Our waiter even apologized for how his manager had behaved which is just embarrassing for a restaurant.

The dessert we had ordered came out after the fireworks and it did taste good, but I just wanted to leave at this point. I also felt really sick from something I ate, I'm not sure what it was, but the whole night my stomach was hurting a lot. I was just so disappointed because I was so excited to go back to this restaurant and had thought it would be a great night and it turned into the worst. Only bright side was the rain had stopped so we didn't get soaked going back to our room.

So probably will never return, or if we do it will be a long time before we go back. We didn't complain to anyone or write any reviews besides the one I'm writing now. I don't think bad reviews for these restaurants really matter since they are always packed and have little incentive to change what they are doing wrong. Maybe it was an off night for the place. I don't know. The rest of the trip was much better than this one night and we didn't let it ruin more than a few hours of our trip.

Up Next... Yachtsman Steakhouse

 

[vettegirl]

MAY 22nd - MONDAY
CALIFORNIA GRILL DINNER

​

So let me start off by saying this will be the one meal we did not have a good time at and will never be returning to. It's the only one of our trip we had been to before and the only one we won't be going back to.


Before this trip I had been worrying about the weather, keeping a close eye on the weather app because it was predicting rain everyday. Luckily the weather wasn't too bad the majority of my trip. This day was not one of those days. We got in a fast pass at Expedition Everest at 3pm and then high tailed it out of the park because the sky was looking really threatening. The radar was showing a lot of rain headed our way. I think this is one of the reasons I actually did not like staying at the Grand Floridian. I was surprised I did not like the hotel, I think partially due to the décor not being my style, but mostly because the buildings are not attached to the main building. I hated walking outside to get to my room and this night in particular I was really nervous I would get soaked before my fancy dinner.

When we got back to the Grand Floridian I saw the glass carriage with a new bride and groom in it. It's my dream to get married at Disney and ri

Our reservation was for 7:35pm so we left a little before 7 to go to the monorail. While we were on the monorail we could see off in the distance three separate huge rain storms, maybe one over each of the other parks?

Behind the Grand Floridian you can see a large chunk of rain. Also, do you see that one large tree by the edge of the water in front of the building? On the fourth floor directly behind that tree was our room. It blocked directly in front, but we were able to see the monorail go by on the sides.

As we approached the Magic Kingdom you could see two separate storms of rain.

The sky was looking pretty threatening. It was starting to thunder outside too. As we pulled into the Contemporary the skies opened up over us and it started to pour. It was raining so badly you couldn't even see outside it was a wall of white. We were really early for our reservation and I was hoping to see the fireworks from our table so didn't want to go up early. We hung out at the gift shop and I bought a cute picture frame with the castle on it.

When it was a couple minutes before our time we went to the second floor where you check in. They have a set of elevators that can only go up to the top floor (15th) and down to the 2nd. I had not worn my birthday button since I was all dressed up, but the girl at the podium decided I needed one and wrote me a new one.

The moment we got out of the elevators we were told our table was ready. A very nice lady walked us to our table, welcoming us back as we had dined there before. This was the only restaurant we had gone to before for our entire trip. (Be Our Guest we had done dinner before, but lunch on this trip) She was really nice and I wish she was our waitress. Our meal went pretty downhill after she sat us.

Our table had been decorated for my birthday. We had a lovely view out the windows as well.

So this was the only meal of our whole trip where we were both very disappointed and we will never be returning to this restaurant sadly. I am sad because I like watching the fireworks from here and had enjoyed it the first time we went.

So. Our waiter was not very friendly, he did not wish me happy birthday or even acknowledge it until dessert time when I had made a comment about getting the dessert for my birthday. That was fine I know it can be hit or miss if a celebration gets acknowledged, even if the whole table was covered with confetti. What I didn't like was how he seemed like we were inconveniencing him the entire night. And it's not like we didn't order much. We both got drinks, appetizer, meals and dessert. But ordering all those things were pretty painful. When I didn't know what I wanted to drink right away he disappeared for a long time before coming back. Then he rushed off to take care of a table of ten before we could tell him we would like an appetizer. I like ordering appetizers and waiting a bit to order my meal because I've had bad luck of both meals being brought out at the same time. He seemed annoyed when he had finally returned that I didn't know what I wanted for my meal.

Another thing about their menu, it was nothing like the menu online. I had checked the app as we were traveling there that day to see what I should get. I wanted to get the Seafood Ramen since I was ordering so much steak this trip. Come to find its no longer on the menu. I ended up ordering the filet mignon because nothing else appealed to me. I had the side changed from asparagus to grilled onions since I don't like asparagus he said he'd have the check with the chef as many people are allergic to onions and he wasn't sure they had any. I've never heard of anyone having that kind of allergy so I was a bit surprised, but was fine with getting something else if they couldn't do it. He returned 15 minutes later to tell me they could so he finally took our orders for our meal.

My boyfriend order a Jack and Coke and I ordered a chocolate martini.

For our appetizer we got a sushi roll the California Shrimp tempura combination roll. When we had ordered this I had thought the two would have been combined together, but they were two separate rolls. I thought these tasted okay, nothing amazing or anything. I asked for spicy mayo on the side which made this better.

After our appetizer was finished they brought out the rolls. These were just okay, nothing good or bad about them.

Now it was finally time for our entrees. It was around 8:40pm when these finally came out. When the food was brought over I noticed that the plate had the asparagus still on the plate and mentioned it to the man who was holding the food. He didn't speak a word of English and had no idea what I was saying. Then we noticed that the other meal he was holding wasn't even fish which my boyfriend had ordered. So he walked away with the plates that I'm pretty sure were meant for a different table. So then we waited about ten minutes and our waiter brought our food out. He did not apologize or even acknowledge the wrong food was brought to us. Maybe he didn't know and that man was never supposed to come over to us?

Finally had my meal. Loved my steak and risotto, hated the shallots they had on the plate. They were bitter and not well prepared at all. He said they didn't actually have onions so these shallots would do and were better. I would have liked if he would have said something before hand, but I guess that's what could happen if you ask for something not on the menu. I hadn't realized how complicated grilled onions were.

My boyfriend had ordered the grouper and had enjoyed it, but he wasn't overly impressed.

One nice thing our waiter did was bring out a surprise dessert for my birthday even though we had ordered one on the menu. He said he had been busy with the larger tables and had apologized for the waits we had had.

I was starting to get in a better mood when problems happened. First, it started to pour so the fireworks got delayed by a half hour. When it had finally stopped raining people didn't seem to want to go outside and instead crowded around the front of our table to watch. Our waiter had insisted that they would be moved when the show started and that no table would be blocked. Well that didn't happen. My boyfriend talked to the rudest manager on the planet who had said no one was allowed to stand in a walkway so a table couldn't have their view blocked, to telling us they were allowed to stand against our table, basically leaning into our food and he didn't care at all and it wasn't he problem and we should just deal with it. I'm sorry, but that is just rude. Don't tell us that people are not allowed to stand in a walkway or in front of someones table and then when it happens decide its our problem not his and he wasn't going to do anything about it. So we moved and watched from the window.

I think my biggest issue was that they told us it wouldn't be a problem to it suddenly becoming a problem for only us and the manager was just so nasty about it. It ruined the entire night. Our waiter even apologized for how his manager had behaved which is just embarrassing for a restaurant.

The dessert we had ordered came out after the fireworks and it did taste good, but I just wanted to leave at this point. I also felt really sick from something I ate, I'm not sure what it was, but the whole night my stomach was hurting a lot. I was just so disappointed because I was so excited to go back to this restaurant and had thought it would be a great night and it turned into the worst. Only bright side was the rain had stopped so we didn't get soaked going back to our room.

So probably will never return, or if we do it will be a long time before we go back. We didn't complain to anyone or write any reviews besides the one I'm writing now. I don't think bad reviews for these restaurants really matter since they are always packed and have little incentive to change what they are doing wrong. Maybe it was an off night for the place. I don't know. The rest of the trip was much better than this one night and we didn't let it ruin more than a few hours of our trip.

Up Next... Yachtsman Steakhouse

What an awful dining experience. We had a similar thing happened to us at the yachtsman steakhouse years ago. I would definitely contact Disney and let them know about this. My son and I ate there last March and it was absolutely wonderful, out sever Joanna is so sweet. She made such an impression on me I still remember her name. Sounds to me like you got a real dud

 

[FSU Girl]

What an awful dining experience. We had a similar thing happened to us at the yachtsman steakhouse years ago. I would definitely contact Disney and let them know about this. My son and I ate there last March and it was absolutely wonderful, out sever Joanna is so sweet. She made such an impression on me I still remember her name. Sounds to me like you got a real dud

I feel like it's too late to complain now. We had had a really nice time the first time we went which I think made this time all the more disappointing. Maybe one day we will be back, but I know my boyfriend isn't going to want to go there any time soon.

 

[Hopefully]

I feel like it's too late to complain now. We had had a really nice time the first time we went which I think made this time all the more disappointing. Maybe one day we will be back, but I know my boyfriend isn't going to want to go there any time soon.

If you don't report it they will never know what they need to address and change. Then someone else will also experience it

 

[FSU Girl]

If you don't report it they will never know what they need to address and change. Then someone else will also experience it

Even though it happened a little over two weeks ago? Wouldn't that be something I would have needed to report while still there?

 

[Hopefully]

Even though it happened a little over two weeks ago? Wouldn't that be something I would have needed to report while still there?

Yes. It certainly would have been best to address it that night or al least while you were there.
But now is way better than not at all.

 

[DaisyNY]

So sad to hear your experience at the California Grill was less than amazing...We had the brunch there on Sunday and had a great experience. I'm sure different staff = different experiences!

 

[ariane37]

That stinks about your CG dinner and that it rained during the fireworks AND that people were butting into your table to watch them! That alone would have set my DH off. We've eaten dinner there once; we didn't have a bad experience but it wasn't anywhere near as great as we thought it would be based on reviews and we haven't had the desire to return. Just weren't impressed with any of the food except my filet which was divine. I did however recently read a great review of the brunch and it's making me wonder if we'd like that. It does seem like a big chunk of your experience, if not all, had to do with staff and while it shouldn't have happened in the first place at least if you do decide to try it again sometime there's a good chance you won't have the same server, and if enough time passes possibly not even the same manager

 

[houstonmama]

What an ******! I would write guest services. Y'all spent a lot of money on that dinner and he was awful. He needs to find a job where he doesn't have to interact with other human beings .

 

[FSU Girl]

So sad to hear your experience at the California Grill was less than amazing...We had the brunch there on Sunday and had a great experience. I'm sure different staff = different experiences!

I've wanted to try the brunch it looks really good. I might be able to convince my boyfriend to go one day, but probably not while this is so fresh in our memories

That stinks about your CG dinner and that it rained during the fireworks AND that people were butting into your table to watch them! That alone would have set my DH off. We've eaten dinner there once; we didn't have a bad experience but it wasn't anywhere near as great as we thought it would be based on reviews and we haven't had the desire to return. Just weren't impressed with any of the food except my filet which was divine. I did however recently read a great review of the brunch and it's making me wonder if we'd like that. It does seem like a big chunk of your experience, if not all, had to do with staff and while it shouldn't have happened in the first place at least if you do decide to try it again sometime there's a good chance you won't have the same server, and if enough time passes possibly not even the same manager

Both times I've gone there it was pouring rain lol. I don't know what it's like on a nice night. I want to go back one day, probably a long time from now, but since we have one good experience maybe we can again. I definitely don't think that manager will be there long. You can't act like that to your customers I'm sure others have complained about him. The brunch does look good, maybe one day.

What an ******! I would write guest services. Y'all spent a lot of money on that dinner and he was awful. He needs to find a job where he doesn't have to interact with other human beings .

I'm not one to really ever complain, I seem to go into shock more than anything when I experience something truly horrible. And it's been a while now so I feel like it's pointless to complain, they just won't be getting our money again. (And our bill was pretty huge too)

I think the experience has definitely put me off from paying to watch a firework show though. Will just have to get a good spot early in the park to watch instead.