Post by crispy on Oct 22, 2011 11:20:53 GMT -5
We did two special events this trip that I thought I would review. I haven't uploaded my pictures yet, but I will try to add some later.
Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian
We have done this before, but the last time was when Sage was a baby (I remember my arm killing me from hold her baby carrier!
) so we thought it would be fun to do now that the girls are older. We were joined by my friend Angela and her daughter who is 8.
We were a little early, and they waited to seat us until our exact tea time. There were several families there with little girls, but most people in the dining room were adults. Our tea was at 4pm and there is a lot of food so dinner was not necessary that night. If you plan to do it, do it in place of lunch and dinner.
I ordered the Buckingham Tea which includes my choice of tea, tea sandwiches, an onion tart, a scone with Devonshire cream and jam, a jam tart, and your choice of starwberries and cream or two pastries. I chose the strawberries and cream. the sandwiches are filled with curried chicken salad, egg salad, shrimp salad, cucumber and herb, and pear and cheese. I don't eat egg salad so they gave me two chicken salad sandwiches instead.
These sandwiches are pretty substantial and really good. I think the cucumber and the shrimp were my favorites, but they were all tasty. I ordered the house blend of tea called gardenview Tea and it is really lovely and light. I am actually not a huge fan of hot tea, but this is really good. The scone with the Devonshire cream and jam is my absolute favorite part of the tea service. I don't know what they do to make this so good, but the scones I get around here are never that good. The strawberries and cream were amazing, but I didn't eat much of them because I was so full. Tim happily finished the rest for me.
Tim had the Gentleman's Tea Platter which had house-made duck and cherry terrine, chicken & pork roulade, country pate en croute, accompanied by marinated berries, cumberland sauce and English Blue Stilton. I'll be honest, it looked pretty gross to me, but he loved it. He had Earl Grey tea.
The girls each had Mrs. Pott's tea which conisted tea sandwiches, tuna salad, ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly on white bread followed by a choice of two pastries. Claire had the "magical dark tea" (i.e. chocolate milk) with hers, but Sage wanted to try hot tea so she chose the Princess Breakfast Tea which was really good! They absolutely loved their sandwiches and actually ate every bite of them (which is rare!). They did trade sandwiches though so Claire had two peanut butters and Sage had two tunas. They both ate the ham and cheese.
The Gardenview Lounge is really lovely and truly lives up to it's name. The long windows and open space gives you a great view of the gardens at the GF and the lobby. It's a very peaceful and quiet place, and it's a lovely way to spend an afternoon especially at a place that can be so hectic like WDW. The girls really loved using really china and I think they felt very grown-up.
The only negative was the service, it was not horrible but just painfully slow. We had to wait quite a bit between each course before the server ever reappeared and it took close to 30 minutes after we finished just to get our check. That was very disappointed because we had excellent service the two other times we did this. Our server seemed really stressed for reasons I couldn't quite figure out. Fortunately, it didn't ruin our experience at all.
Hoop-Dee-Doo
This was a last minute addition to our scheduled - as in, we called at noon to see if we could get into that night's show. One of the friends who was traveling with us had some extra dining credits that she couldn't use before flying out. She bought our breakfast at Crystal Palace that morning so we could try to do a signature that night or another character breakfast the next morning before we left. We would only have to pay out of pocket for the girls.
Since we were at Magic Kingdom, I went to guest services to see what ADR's were available at any of the resort signature restaurants or possible the Castle. Nothing. I was a little bummed, but I figured that we could at least use it the next morning for breakfast. An hour or so later, I thought about the Hoop-Dee-Doo and we called and were able to get a seat for the 5pm show!! Woo-hoo!
Tim and I had seen the HDDR twice before, but the last time was in 2004. The girls had never been. We arrived at Ft. Wilderness about an hour before check-in so we could explore. The girls loved riding the bus and visiting the petting zoo and stables. It made for a very relaxing last night at Disney.
When we called, we were told that our seats would not be the best, but we never expected that since we called at the last minute. Imagine our surprise when we are placed literally two tables back from the stage. These were the best seats we had ever gotten for the show so that was a really great surprise!
The show itself is just a fun, silly, good time. I figured Sage would love it, but I wasn't sure about Claire. I was amazed because she loved it! She has literally been talking about Claire DeLune every since we came home and was just enthralled by a character that had the same name as her. The guy who played Six-Bits was the best I had seen. Hilarious! He definitely gave the character his own spin.
The food at HDDR was definitely not compatible with the Weight Watchers diet I am following, but I decided to splurge. The chicken and ribs here are just so good. The sides included smashed potatoes, corn, baked beans. They also served a nice salad and cornbread as starters. The best part of the meal was dessert. I just love that strawberry shortcake.
All in all, it was just a wonderful experience for the whole family! The girls are already talking about doing it again even though we don't have a trip in the works right now!
Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian
We have done this before, but the last time was when Sage was a baby (I remember my arm killing me from hold her baby carrier!
) so we thought it would be fun to do now that the girls are older. We were joined by my friend Angela and her daughter who is 8. We were a little early, and they waited to seat us until our exact tea time. There were several families there with little girls, but most people in the dining room were adults. Our tea was at 4pm and there is a lot of food so dinner was not necessary that night. If you plan to do it, do it in place of lunch and dinner.
I ordered the Buckingham Tea which includes my choice of tea, tea sandwiches, an onion tart, a scone with Devonshire cream and jam, a jam tart, and your choice of starwberries and cream or two pastries. I chose the strawberries and cream. the sandwiches are filled with curried chicken salad, egg salad, shrimp salad, cucumber and herb, and pear and cheese. I don't eat egg salad so they gave me two chicken salad sandwiches instead.
These sandwiches are pretty substantial and really good. I think the cucumber and the shrimp were my favorites, but they were all tasty. I ordered the house blend of tea called gardenview Tea and it is really lovely and light. I am actually not a huge fan of hot tea, but this is really good. The scone with the Devonshire cream and jam is my absolute favorite part of the tea service. I don't know what they do to make this so good, but the scones I get around here are never that good. The strawberries and cream were amazing, but I didn't eat much of them because I was so full. Tim happily finished the rest for me.
Tim had the Gentleman's Tea Platter which had house-made duck and cherry terrine, chicken & pork roulade, country pate en croute, accompanied by marinated berries, cumberland sauce and English Blue Stilton. I'll be honest, it looked pretty gross to me, but he loved it. He had Earl Grey tea.
The girls each had Mrs. Pott's tea which conisted tea sandwiches, tuna salad, ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly on white bread followed by a choice of two pastries. Claire had the "magical dark tea" (i.e. chocolate milk) with hers, but Sage wanted to try hot tea so she chose the Princess Breakfast Tea which was really good! They absolutely loved their sandwiches and actually ate every bite of them (which is rare!). They did trade sandwiches though so Claire had two peanut butters and Sage had two tunas. They both ate the ham and cheese.
The Gardenview Lounge is really lovely and truly lives up to it's name. The long windows and open space gives you a great view of the gardens at the GF and the lobby. It's a very peaceful and quiet place, and it's a lovely way to spend an afternoon especially at a place that can be so hectic like WDW. The girls really loved using really china and I think they felt very grown-up.
The only negative was the service, it was not horrible but just painfully slow. We had to wait quite a bit between each course before the server ever reappeared and it took close to 30 minutes after we finished just to get our check. That was very disappointed because we had excellent service the two other times we did this. Our server seemed really stressed for reasons I couldn't quite figure out. Fortunately, it didn't ruin our experience at all.
Hoop-Dee-Doo
This was a last minute addition to our scheduled - as in, we called at noon to see if we could get into that night's show. One of the friends who was traveling with us had some extra dining credits that she couldn't use before flying out. She bought our breakfast at Crystal Palace that morning so we could try to do a signature that night or another character breakfast the next morning before we left. We would only have to pay out of pocket for the girls.
Since we were at Magic Kingdom, I went to guest services to see what ADR's were available at any of the resort signature restaurants or possible the Castle. Nothing. I was a little bummed, but I figured that we could at least use it the next morning for breakfast. An hour or so later, I thought about the Hoop-Dee-Doo and we called and were able to get a seat for the 5pm show!! Woo-hoo!
Tim and I had seen the HDDR twice before, but the last time was in 2004. The girls had never been. We arrived at Ft. Wilderness about an hour before check-in so we could explore. The girls loved riding the bus and visiting the petting zoo and stables. It made for a very relaxing last night at Disney.
When we called, we were told that our seats would not be the best, but we never expected that since we called at the last minute. Imagine our surprise when we are placed literally two tables back from the stage. These were the best seats we had ever gotten for the show so that was a really great surprise!
The show itself is just a fun, silly, good time. I figured Sage would love it, but I wasn't sure about Claire. I was amazed because she loved it! She has literally been talking about Claire DeLune every since we came home and was just enthralled by a character that had the same name as her. The guy who played Six-Bits was the best I had seen. Hilarious! He definitely gave the character his own spin.
The food at HDDR was definitely not compatible with the Weight Watchers diet I am following, but I decided to splurge. The chicken and ribs here are just so good. The sides included smashed potatoes, corn, baked beans. They also served a nice salad and cornbread as starters. The best part of the meal was dessert. I just love that strawberry shortcake.
All in all, it was just a wonderful experience for the whole family! The girls are already talking about doing it again even though we don't have a trip in the works right now!
