Originally Posted By skinnerbox Boatwright's at POR used to be good. Now, I can't stand it. Way overpriced for what you get. Haunt is correct. Take the boat to DtD and eat at House of Blues, if you're looking for Southern or Cajun food. Their jambalaya is much better.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb If you get the Dining Plan free with your package it is absolutely worth the money ;-) If you have your travel dates I would get a plan of attack going right now and get online to book those ADRs ASAP.
Originally Posted By danyoung >FYI, the lunch menu entrees selections when the Coral Reef opened in 1986:...< Russ, I'm remembering times in the 90's when the CR had a full 2 page menu, with in the neighborhood of 18 to 20 entree's. Now it all fits on one page, and not much seafood. Sad.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub DOes Disney Visa have a new free dining offer? I accidentally deleted without reading it yesterday.
Originally Posted By ophellia thanks for the info...ok so DTD! I've done House of Blues in Cali and I love it! The wine&dine plan I've been considering is $200 extra...
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>Do what I do, and avoid WDW altogether... I'll take my DLP and DL vacations over the crap that is offered at WDW.<< Amen. Shame they don't have Epcot, DAK and the water parks though. That said, with DLP, half of the real World Showcase is on the doorstep. What is funny is in some nice places, that serve better food than WDW, I can feed a Spirit, his bro and myself a three courser and wine for about the same price as a meal for 2 at California Grill.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> DOes Disney Visa have a new free dining offer? I accidentally deleted without reading it yesterday << Posted at Mousemisers Travel Dates: August 15 – October 2, 2010 Walt Disney World has announced the “Free Dining” promotion for the sixth consecutive year. Currently, the discount is only available to Disney VISA cardholders, though it will be released to the general public starting on Monday, May 3, 2010. With the “Free Dining” promotion, Disney resort guests who book a Magic Your Way package that includes both your Disney resort room and your Magic Your Way park passes, will receive one of the Disney Dining plan add-on for free for all guest three and older in their party. There are a few requirements: ■You must book at least a three night stay, and your stay cannot be longer than 14 nights ■You must include at least a two day Magic Your Way base ticket ■You must pay your $200 per room deposit at time of booking, you cannot “hold” a reservation A slight change from 2009. Guests staying at a Disney World value resort will receive the Quick Service Dining Plan for free. Guests will be able to upgrade to either the Disney Dining plan or the Deluxe Disney Dining plan by paying the price difference. To upgrade to the Disney Dining Plan, the increased cost will be $10 per adult and $2 per child per night of your stay. To upgrade to the Disney Deluxe Dining plan, guests will pay $40 per adult and $11 per child per night of your stay. Guests staying at a Disney World Moderate, Deluxe or Disney VISA resort will receive the Disney Dining Plan included for free. Disney World guests at moderate, deluxe and villa resorts will also be able to book the “Free Dining”, and upgrade to the Disney Deluxe Dining for the normal price difference, which is $30 for adults and $9 for children three to nine. The Wine and Dine option is also available at full price to add onto either the Basic or Deluxe dining plans. Availability is extremely limited, and must be booked by August 14, 2010 It appears that all suites have been excluded from this offer, though all resorts, including value resorts are included (All-Star Family Suites are included). To receive the Disney VISA cardholder discount, you must pay your deposit at time of booking with your Disney VISA, and you must pay the balance with your Disney VISA card as well, when due. As a reminder, this exact discount will be released on May 3 to the general public without the Disney VISA requirements. One thing to note that while the last date of travel is October 2, the free dining will extend past that date, as long as you check in October 2 or before. As usual, this is subject to availability.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Boatwright's at POR used to be good. Now, I can't stand it. Way overpriced for what you get.>> Don't get me started. I used to love that place. Huge menu with probably two dozen entrees for dinner. With a large note saying if you didn't see anything you liked, ask you server what they may be able to put together in the kitchen. A bottomless bowl of salad with a special homemade cajun ranch dressing that was INCLUDED (that means you didn't pay extra for it) with EVERY dinner. Great variety. Desserts. And the best breakfast on property. now ... closed mornings ... and open for dinner with maybe 7-8 entrees ... they keep it and shove it up Meg Cro... nevermind.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 >FYI, the lunch menu entrees selections when the Coral Reef opened in 1986:...< <<Russ, I'm remembering times in the 90's when the CR had a full 2 page menu, with in the neighborhood of 18 to 20 entree's. Now it all fits on one page, and not much seafood. Sad.>> I don't know when Russ dined there, Danny. But I ate at Coral Reef regularly from 1986 to about 1995. And sporadically since. Last time was 2008. I can say with 100% certainty that back in the 1980s they did indeed have a multiple page menu with more than 20 entree selections and the menu was entirely seafood based with the exception of one steak and one chicken dish that were both exceptional in their own rights as well as one seafood pasta dish that could be made vegetarian. Now? Pork chops. Prime rib.Chicken Ceasar salad. Salmon. Catfish. Shrimp pasta. Those are typical items. It's very sad. And it's why Fulton's is a much better option and you don't need to even leave the pixie dust of WDW property or make a ressie 136 days out to dine there.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Oh and free dining well into October ... what was the Weatherman telling Wall Street about dialing down the discounting? A load of &*$#!
Originally Posted By mousermerf <<<Friends from O-Town that used to go into EPCOT for dinner, for example, have been completely screwed. Usually, they're told 'we have an 8:50 at Marrakesh' or nothing.>>> I can't tolerate caring this much about the dining plan, so I skimmed most of the other posts (sorry!) but if you want to eat at Epcot on a whim that whim needs to occur 11am-12pm and by asking to be seated right away when the places open for lunch. Never failed to be seated within the first few minutes of opening - and it's actually a neat experience to watch the French restaurant spring to life in a very decidedly un-French regimented and sort of militaristic manner. Each waiter has exactly X tables, each bus boy has X tables, and they all work left to right, and the people bring the bread are just waiting for the waiter to have taken the order and walked away. By the way, they seat the windows first to make the place look busy.
Originally Posted By mousermerf <<<what was the Weatherman telling Wall Street about dialing down the discounting?>>> Technically this change is "down."
Originally Posted By mousermerf Oh, side note - the first lunch seating is when executives on their lunch break or schmoozing other companies tend to dine (as permitted in their discount and comp-for-schmoozing regulations) and the restaurants know this. The service is far better then you'll get later in the day.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<I can say with 100% certainty that back in the 1980s they did indeed have a multiple page menu with more than 20 entree selections and the menu was entirely seafood based with the exception of one steak and one chicken dish that were both exceptional in their own rights as well as one seafood pasta dish that could be made vegetarian.>> I clearly remember the first time I ate there in 1988. I went to EPCOT alone that day while my friends got sucked into family holiday nonsense. I sat next to the aquarium and watched the fishies while pouring over the multi-page menu, trying to decide what seafood I wanted to eat. And I'll never forget the Mickey Mouse butter that accompanied the bread. How cute! This place is now a joke. You're paying for the setting of the aquarium and nothing else. Joe's Crab Shack does better seafood, Fish Market does better seafood, and perhaps even Long John Silver's does better seafood. But Coral Reef? pfft Dining at WDW used to be one of big highlights of my Orlando vacations. Those days are over.
Originally Posted By danyoung >This place is now a joke.< I have to say that I enjoyed my meal at the Coral Reef a couple weeks ago. It's still great to sit by the glass and enjoy watching the fish and sharks and turtles lazily swimming by. And while the menu is vastly simplified (not cool), the food I had was excellently prepared, and the service was terrific (very good). So, in short - the Coral Reef, while not as great as it used to be, is still a totally unique dining experience, and (for me) a great choice!
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Somehow I got talked into the Quick service plan for our next trip. I'm not able to eat like I use to. So it's probably a good thing. Although it was only 72 days out I did manage to get the Luau and the Castle for dinner.
Originally Posted By mousermerf I got lobster there.. didn't ask for it, and I don't like lobster. It was to replace the quail and lamb I wasn't enjoying.. and didn't ask for a replacement of.. I had to ask to stop being brought food, actually. They wanted to send the chef out to investigate what I -would- eat and make something just for me. I was apparently someone's pet project for the evening.
