Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: The food wasn't that good? Hmmm....I guess I never really thought about how good the food was at the Prime Time because the waiters have always been so delicious they made me forget all about the food!
Originally Posted By MPierce Like so many restaurants at WDW 50's Prime Time Cafe is hit, and miss, for both quality of food, and quality of show. That's a big problem for me with the price points at WDW.
Originally Posted By hbquikcomjamesl I've been to Durgin Park, and enjoyed it. I would probably also enjoy Ed Debevic's, although I've never heard of it before (on the other hand, when in Chicago, I always dine at The Italian Village, and (except for the period in which it was closed) The Berghoff (frankly, I liked the old version better). I've considered a serving of jook at Sam Wo, in San Francisco's Chinatown, but given that the legendary Edsel Ford Wong is long-dead, and that serious sanitation concerns have been raised about the joint, and I don't know if jook (aka congee) is even still on the menu, I've thought better of it. And as far as participatory dinner theatre, I loved DCA's Soap Opera Bistro, even though I despise soap operas as a genre. Probably because it was more soap opera parody than soap opera. But given that I'm not merely A picky eater, but THE UR-PICKY EATER, 50s Prime-Time would be a very bad fit for me, because the staff would have no way of knowing that I was not playing along.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Like so many restaurants at WDW 50's Prime Time Cafe is hit, and miss, for both quality of food, and quality of show. << I'm glad you said it that way, because reading this thread, I feel like I visited some OTHER 50's Prime Time Cafe. I mean, it was perhaps the most enjoyable part of our whole visit to WDW, and I've raved about the place to anyone who will listen. And yet so many people in this thread have had the opposite experience.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> I mean, it was perhaps the most enjoyable part of our whole visit to WDW, and I've raved about the place to anyone who will listen. And yet so many people in this thread have had the opposite experience. << That's the problem when reading the different reviews of so many of the restaurants at WDW. There does not seem to be consistency in them. I can understand the differences in peoples taste, but you also get different reviews in quality of show at 50's PT. I've found this to be the case at Whispering Canyon also.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan We ate at Storyteller's Cafe in California on one of the very first days it was open. At that time, the concept was that your server was also a story teller, and they would tell diners California-based tales such as the Calaveras Jumping Frog and such. Our server pointed to one of the murals along the wall and told the tale that went along with it. It was kind of an awkward experience for us (and the server). And Disney abandoned the concept almost immediately. Concepts like that, and Prime Time, require cast members who are good performers, can improvise and stay in character. It's like Jungle Cruise dinner theater in a way. So I can see that if a cast member just wasn't that into it, or had a dead table, Prime Time would be no big thing. Happily, the night we were there, it was firing on all cylinders and created some truly great memories.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Now that would be awesome. We tried not eating some veg, elbows on the table etc. Nothing, nadda. In another room however, it sounds like they had a good time. But not ours. Whereas at Whispering Canyon we had a blast. Probably the most fun restaurant experience in Disney in my experience. It was like night and day, the difference was huge.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>But not ours.<< Yeah, that's a pity. I wish I could remember our server's name, she was terrific. She totally got the concept and was always in character. And not just her, other servers would pop in and joke around, another would pop in acting like the annoying little cousin, pestering people. It was great fun. Maybe management was making the rounds so the cast members had to bring out their A game. ; )
Originally Posted By standor I am glad to find that am not alone in my thoughts about 50s prime time. I always heard great things about. I had high expectations and instead had a disappointing letdown.
Originally Posted By standor I enjoyed the kidding and pushing my elbows off the tabloe. I expected good food.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> Concepts like that, and Prime Time, require cast members who are good performers, can improvise and stay in character. It's like Jungle Cruise dinner theater in a way. So I can see that if a cast member just wasn't that into it, or had a dead table, Prime Time would be no big thing. << The CM is definitely the key to the show element. If they are not on their game their entire shift, some folks end up with a disappointing experience. I would imagine staying in character day in, and day out, for each guest, would be very difficult to do.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> Whereas at Whispering Canyon we had a blast. Probably the most fun restaurant experience in Disney in my experience. It was like night and day, the difference was huge. << I've had both great CM, and mediocre CM at WC. It just seems like it's the luck of the draw.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> I enjoyed the kidding and pushing my elbows off the tabloe. I expected good food. << It's kind of hard to enjoy the whole experience if you think the food sucks.
