January-2007
06-05-2007, 03:46 PM
Cape May's for dinner
Wow. I'm sure you're thinking right now, "are you nuts?" Yes. We are crazy. But that's okay. It's not Florida if it doesn't rain, and rain we had. Earlier in the week we cancelled our dinner at Cape May's because of the breakfast fiasco. Later in the week we were desperate not to go anywhere because it was raining and DH really just wanted to relax (he's already back at work, poor thing!). I was thinking of the Yacht Club Galley. We were put on hold for over 10 minutes on the dining line so I just went to the concierge desk where there was no line. That worked out well!
It was 5:30PM when we tried to get the ADRs for dinner that night. At the concierge desk where they can make dining reservations for you I asked about the Yacht Club Galley and they said the earliest dinner they had available was something like 8:40 or something like that. We were really hungry so I asked where else we could go without having to travel and duh, look over there. So the guy behind the desk convinced us to try Cape May Cafe for dinner, saying it was totally different than breakfast, and we were able to get reservations for 7:30 that night. We rented a movie and watched the first half before dinner then popped downstairs, sans being out in the rain, and that was priceless.
You know what else was priceless? Having a tiny bit of forethought. Our original plan for the night was to go to Trails End for dinner but we just didn't want to go out in the rain. I know, we wouldn't have melted, but we just didn't want to. Having the thought to try to make an ADR even for the same night, good thinking. When we got in line to check in at the restaurant the man in front of us was trying to walk in and was told there were no availabilities all night. So that 2 hours really saved us from having sandwiches for dinner. We wanted to do something special, anything.
This wait time was a little longer, more along the lines of Raglan Road, except we did find seats, and it was at our own resort, so no big worries. Soon enough our beeper went off and we were waiting in the next line to be seated. Lines lines everywhere. This time we got primo seats. We had a lovely booth for two and we were close to the buffet so we could see when the line was long and when it was thinning out.
DH got hot tea to drink and he loved getting to try a different kind of tea each time. I got water and it came in a huge glass so I was happy. Sometimes it's hard to get drinks refilled at buffets because the servers don't check in as often since you get your own food so I liked the big glass.
So the question on everybody's mind at this point- was it terrible or fantastic? I am as shocked as you are at this one- it was fantastic! DH said it was the favorite food for him of the trip. No, we wouldn't go out of our way to get to this restaurant if we weren't staying at this resort, as I'm sure there are other dinner buffets with stuff quite similar, but yes, we will dine here again the next time we stay at the Beach Club in a couple of years. Breakfast, not again, Dinner, again.
I started with a small bowl of clam chowder because I love the stuff and don't get it very often at all. DH got some shrimp and let me tell you, they were the smallest shrimp I've ever seen! Also, we're from Maryland, and it was just weird that there was no seasoning on the shrimp at all. There's always tons of Old Bay seasoning on the shrimp around here so that was just strange to us. They are cold peel 'n' eat shrimp, and I didn't bother. DH just gave me one of his that he peeled, how sweet!
Next DH tried the fish and chips they had there, and they were fantastic considering they were on a buffet! He really liked them. When I went through the line all I got was a piece of fish, they took the fries away right when I got there! (I did get one later though, and it was good.) The fish was too greasy for me but DH enjoyed it. I tried the mixed vegetables which was green beans with yellow squash and carrots. The green beans weren't trimmed so they were gross to me but the squash and carrots were good. The mashed potatoes were just like the mashed potatoes at most places in WDW and were very very good.
They had steak on the buffet. The only time I remember having sirloin steak it was so fatty and gross but this steak was so good. I tried one little slice and went back for two more it was really excellent. DH tried some pasta dish that he said he really enjoyed, and the bread was nice and fresh.
When we made it to the dessert bar, guess what? All the desserts were gone! They had forgotten to refill them, so we had to wait a little while for that. It was pretty funny, all that was left were the reject desserts that nobody liked apparently. The only dessert that I liked was the key lime tart, it reminded me of the mini lemon cheesecake we got at the Grand Floridian Cafe in January. DH had a cookie.
We didn't eat that much here, we just tried a little of many things. It was a 500% improvement over breakfast and we were very pleased. It was nice having a restaurant in the resort we were staying at because then we could still have an evening out without going out. We both enjoyed our dinner at Cape May's. We're glad we gave it another shot.
'Ohana for breakfast
This is forever known now as the 'Ohana breakfast adventure. Okay, I just made that up, and when we stay somewhere else it won't really be so much of an adventure, but do let me share.
We stayed at the Beach Club. You know what that means? We can walk to Epcot! Okay, so the morning started with us walking to the bus stop for the Magic Kingdom to take the bus there and then monorail over to the Polynesian Resort. After seeing the huge lineup for the bus, we back tracked and chose the road less traveled. Here's what we did:
-Walked from Beach Club to International Gateway in Epcot
-Walked through Epcot to get to the front of th park, stopping only a few times for pictures (who can resist with all those flowers!)
-Got on the monorail to the TTC
-Walked from the TTC to the Polynesian resort (another tip I learned from Intercot, there's not hardly any signage at all telling folks they can walk instead of taking the monorail)
-Made it right on time for our late breakfast ADR at 'Ohana
What a way to go! We were so hot by the time we got there, it was so much fun though. We really saw some neat sights. I loved the walk from the TTC to the Poly, although we were powerwalking to get there on time, and couldn't exactly stop and look at everything. It was a lot of fun to get away from the crowds and just enjoy the great outdoors.
'Ohana. Wow. What a nice place. I especially liked having the food brought to us since we were in the last breakfast seating. No looking at buffet items being consolidated, just relaxing and looking at the views. And what a view! We just love the Grand Floridian, and we got to, or, rather, I got to look at it all throughout breakfast. DH's back was to the window, he just got to look at the restaurant. Which, by the way, was very lovely as well. If the dinner menu appealed to me at all I would so made an ADR there for dinner too, it was just so pretty!
I don't eat breakfast meats so next time I'm going to ask them to just not give them to us. Maybe say we're vegetarian when making the ADR? I used to be vegetarian so I still can't bring myself to eat certain types of meat. DH didn't eat any bacon and didn't think the sausage was all that great, so we'll just maybe ask for it not to be on the platter. I get grossed out when other stuff touches the meat so I was somewhat limited.
The biscuits were really good, and I liked the potatoes. They brought me ketchup in a little dish. I love that. I hate touching greasy ketchup bottles that everyone else has touched it's just gross to me. Wow I must sound like a crazy person, but I guess we all have our quirks. Our waitress brought us a waffle each and put them on our plates. More of those little tiny waffles, but at least they were fresh. They had all these waffle irons set up where they grill the meats at night, it was cool.
We ordered so many drinks, love the all in one pricing! I had two of the little cups of special juice they serve there and a chocolate milk, DH had some of the juice, a glass of regular milk, and some hot tea I think too. The characters were nice. Not overwhelming but still very nice. Mickey wearing a Hawaiian shirt, love it! Oh, and they served a fruit plate too, I loved the watermelon. And the pinapple bread. The basket they give you at the beginning of the meal has one piece of pinapple bread and one piece of raison bread. I picked up the raison bread and was so disapointed until I realized that DH had the pinapple one! We traded. It worked out great because I hate raisons and DH hates coconut. I didn't try to eggs. DH said they tasted like eggbeaters. I just munched on fruit and bread! This was a lovely breakfast, and another one I am looking forward to returning to. This is right there after Chef Mickey's. A totally different experience, but a really good one, all the same. I am so glad we tried it!
That's all for Part 5. Coming up... Liberty Tree Tavern, oh my! Since it wouldn't fit in this post... The forgotten meal at Casey's, snacking around the world, and final thoughts.
Wow. I'm sure you're thinking right now, "are you nuts?" Yes. We are crazy. But that's okay. It's not Florida if it doesn't rain, and rain we had. Earlier in the week we cancelled our dinner at Cape May's because of the breakfast fiasco. Later in the week we were desperate not to go anywhere because it was raining and DH really just wanted to relax (he's already back at work, poor thing!). I was thinking of the Yacht Club Galley. We were put on hold for over 10 minutes on the dining line so I just went to the concierge desk where there was no line. That worked out well!
It was 5:30PM when we tried to get the ADRs for dinner that night. At the concierge desk where they can make dining reservations for you I asked about the Yacht Club Galley and they said the earliest dinner they had available was something like 8:40 or something like that. We were really hungry so I asked where else we could go without having to travel and duh, look over there. So the guy behind the desk convinced us to try Cape May Cafe for dinner, saying it was totally different than breakfast, and we were able to get reservations for 7:30 that night. We rented a movie and watched the first half before dinner then popped downstairs, sans being out in the rain, and that was priceless.
You know what else was priceless? Having a tiny bit of forethought. Our original plan for the night was to go to Trails End for dinner but we just didn't want to go out in the rain. I know, we wouldn't have melted, but we just didn't want to. Having the thought to try to make an ADR even for the same night, good thinking. When we got in line to check in at the restaurant the man in front of us was trying to walk in and was told there were no availabilities all night. So that 2 hours really saved us from having sandwiches for dinner. We wanted to do something special, anything.
This wait time was a little longer, more along the lines of Raglan Road, except we did find seats, and it was at our own resort, so no big worries. Soon enough our beeper went off and we were waiting in the next line to be seated. Lines lines everywhere. This time we got primo seats. We had a lovely booth for two and we were close to the buffet so we could see when the line was long and when it was thinning out.
DH got hot tea to drink and he loved getting to try a different kind of tea each time. I got water and it came in a huge glass so I was happy. Sometimes it's hard to get drinks refilled at buffets because the servers don't check in as often since you get your own food so I liked the big glass.
So the question on everybody's mind at this point- was it terrible or fantastic? I am as shocked as you are at this one- it was fantastic! DH said it was the favorite food for him of the trip. No, we wouldn't go out of our way to get to this restaurant if we weren't staying at this resort, as I'm sure there are other dinner buffets with stuff quite similar, but yes, we will dine here again the next time we stay at the Beach Club in a couple of years. Breakfast, not again, Dinner, again.
I started with a small bowl of clam chowder because I love the stuff and don't get it very often at all. DH got some shrimp and let me tell you, they were the smallest shrimp I've ever seen! Also, we're from Maryland, and it was just weird that there was no seasoning on the shrimp at all. There's always tons of Old Bay seasoning on the shrimp around here so that was just strange to us. They are cold peel 'n' eat shrimp, and I didn't bother. DH just gave me one of his that he peeled, how sweet!
Next DH tried the fish and chips they had there, and they were fantastic considering they were on a buffet! He really liked them. When I went through the line all I got was a piece of fish, they took the fries away right when I got there! (I did get one later though, and it was good.) The fish was too greasy for me but DH enjoyed it. I tried the mixed vegetables which was green beans with yellow squash and carrots. The green beans weren't trimmed so they were gross to me but the squash and carrots were good. The mashed potatoes were just like the mashed potatoes at most places in WDW and were very very good.
They had steak on the buffet. The only time I remember having sirloin steak it was so fatty and gross but this steak was so good. I tried one little slice and went back for two more it was really excellent. DH tried some pasta dish that he said he really enjoyed, and the bread was nice and fresh.
When we made it to the dessert bar, guess what? All the desserts were gone! They had forgotten to refill them, so we had to wait a little while for that. It was pretty funny, all that was left were the reject desserts that nobody liked apparently. The only dessert that I liked was the key lime tart, it reminded me of the mini lemon cheesecake we got at the Grand Floridian Cafe in January. DH had a cookie.
We didn't eat that much here, we just tried a little of many things. It was a 500% improvement over breakfast and we were very pleased. It was nice having a restaurant in the resort we were staying at because then we could still have an evening out without going out. We both enjoyed our dinner at Cape May's. We're glad we gave it another shot.
'Ohana for breakfast
This is forever known now as the 'Ohana breakfast adventure. Okay, I just made that up, and when we stay somewhere else it won't really be so much of an adventure, but do let me share.
We stayed at the Beach Club. You know what that means? We can walk to Epcot! Okay, so the morning started with us walking to the bus stop for the Magic Kingdom to take the bus there and then monorail over to the Polynesian Resort. After seeing the huge lineup for the bus, we back tracked and chose the road less traveled. Here's what we did:
-Walked from Beach Club to International Gateway in Epcot
-Walked through Epcot to get to the front of th park, stopping only a few times for pictures (who can resist with all those flowers!)
-Got on the monorail to the TTC
-Walked from the TTC to the Polynesian resort (another tip I learned from Intercot, there's not hardly any signage at all telling folks they can walk instead of taking the monorail)
-Made it right on time for our late breakfast ADR at 'Ohana
What a way to go! We were so hot by the time we got there, it was so much fun though. We really saw some neat sights. I loved the walk from the TTC to the Poly, although we were powerwalking to get there on time, and couldn't exactly stop and look at everything. It was a lot of fun to get away from the crowds and just enjoy the great outdoors.
'Ohana. Wow. What a nice place. I especially liked having the food brought to us since we were in the last breakfast seating. No looking at buffet items being consolidated, just relaxing and looking at the views. And what a view! We just love the Grand Floridian, and we got to, or, rather, I got to look at it all throughout breakfast. DH's back was to the window, he just got to look at the restaurant. Which, by the way, was very lovely as well. If the dinner menu appealed to me at all I would so made an ADR there for dinner too, it was just so pretty!
I don't eat breakfast meats so next time I'm going to ask them to just not give them to us. Maybe say we're vegetarian when making the ADR? I used to be vegetarian so I still can't bring myself to eat certain types of meat. DH didn't eat any bacon and didn't think the sausage was all that great, so we'll just maybe ask for it not to be on the platter. I get grossed out when other stuff touches the meat so I was somewhat limited.
The biscuits were really good, and I liked the potatoes. They brought me ketchup in a little dish. I love that. I hate touching greasy ketchup bottles that everyone else has touched it's just gross to me. Wow I must sound like a crazy person, but I guess we all have our quirks. Our waitress brought us a waffle each and put them on our plates. More of those little tiny waffles, but at least they were fresh. They had all these waffle irons set up where they grill the meats at night, it was cool.
We ordered so many drinks, love the all in one pricing! I had two of the little cups of special juice they serve there and a chocolate milk, DH had some of the juice, a glass of regular milk, and some hot tea I think too. The characters were nice. Not overwhelming but still very nice. Mickey wearing a Hawaiian shirt, love it! Oh, and they served a fruit plate too, I loved the watermelon. And the pinapple bread. The basket they give you at the beginning of the meal has one piece of pinapple bread and one piece of raison bread. I picked up the raison bread and was so disapointed until I realized that DH had the pinapple one! We traded. It worked out great because I hate raisons and DH hates coconut. I didn't try to eggs. DH said they tasted like eggbeaters. I just munched on fruit and bread! This was a lovely breakfast, and another one I am looking forward to returning to. This is right there after Chef Mickey's. A totally different experience, but a really good one, all the same. I am so glad we tried it!
That's all for Part 5. Coming up... Liberty Tree Tavern, oh my! Since it wouldn't fit in this post... The forgotten meal at Casey's, snacking around the world, and final thoughts.