Chef Mickey's Buffet Review - Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World

On our recent trip to Walt Disney World, one of the places we wanted to try was Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary.  So many times on the monorail, we've zipped through this beautiful hotel and glimpsed Chef Mickey's down below.  So we wanted to experience it for ourselves!  Back in June, I was able to get a 9:15 pm reservation for our first night at Disney. Because yes - you have to make reservations that far ahead!! But it was oh so worth it!

We spent our first afternoon here at the Magic Kingdom, then went back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner.  We decided to drive to the hotel and parked there before taking the elevator up to the restaurant.   We got to the hostess stand right at 9:15.

They gave us a pager, and we waited in the lobby for about 10 minutes to be seated - they had a photographer available for pictures, too.

We had a wonderful waiter named Glen who told us about the buffet and took our drink orders.
The main buffet had salads, breads, and lots of entrees and sides.  My choices were sloppy joes without the bun, polenta, green beans with a dab of butter, short ribs, grilled chicken with a little honey mustard, and some carved turkey breast.  There was also some salad under the ribs, ha!

My son chose chicken, chicken nuggets, bread, and macaroni and cheese.  We thought everything was really good.  Our waiter was great about removing empty plates and refilling our drinks before we had to ask.

He noticed we had our birthday buttons on (I got them at the check-in desk at Pop Century), and surprised us with a birthday card signed by all of the characters, plus a cupcake to share!

And speaking of characters:

Dessert was awesome - they had so many things to choose from!  I didn't take pictures of all the options.  David had ice cream with candy on top.  I chose these three mini desserts!  The key lime tart was my favorite!

The restaurant has plenty of room, and the decor is bright and fun.  After dinner we walked around the hotel a bit and looked at this huge Frozen gingerbread castle!  The Christmas decorations were beautiful.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had the free dining plan, so we had a free table service meal for each day of our stay. So this meal only cost us the 20% tip we left!  Without the dining plan, our dinner would have cost $106.50!  I highly recommend the dining plan if you want to have lots of character meals!

We truly enjoyed this restaurant and the character interactions.  It was a lot of fun and we'll definitely be back next time we visit The Magic Kingdom!  Here is a link to the menu if you want to see more of what they offer!

Stay tuned for more Disney posts coming soon!

Garden Grill Restaurant at Walt Disney World Epcot

My son and I just returned from a wonderful eight day vacation in Florida.  The majority of our time was spent at Walt Disney World, and I'll be sharing some of our favorites from our trip over the next few weeks!

First up is our lunch at Garden Grill Restaurant.  It's located in The Land building towards the front of the park.   This is what the lobby of the building looks like, when you first enter.   (Click on any pic for a larger view)  Garden Grill is on the main level (2nd floor) straight ahead.

Here's a closer view of the front of the restaurant:

You really need a reservation for any of the table service or character meals at Walt Disney World.  I made our reservations back in June for this trip!  We saw many disappointed people during our trip who tried to walk up and get in at restaurants.  So make sure to plan your trip well in advance, then you can start making dining reservations 180 days from your trip date.

We checked in a few minutes early, and were given a pager.  This lovely Christmas tree was in the waiting area and was so pretty to look at!

Once the pager lit up, we were quickly taken to our table.  The restaurant rotates very slowly, and you get to see portions of the interior of Living With the Land ride as it moves.   Our waitress was named Jenna and she was AMAZING.  Everyone there was friendly and helpful, and you can tell they love their job! 

She took our drink orders, then brought them plus fresh rolls with clover honey butter, and a gorgeous salad that contained fresh veggies grown in the greenhouses at Epcot! It was tossed in a ranch dressing and was delicious.  The rolls were fluffy and the honey butter was out-of-this-world fantastic! (I haven't eaten rolls or bread in 3 months, so that might be part of the reason they tasted so good, ha!) 

Next up was the entree.  She brought David a serving of mac-n-cheese (topped with goldfish crackers) and sweet potato fries, in addition to our main entree skillet.  It contained turkey with a delicious bacon and leek dressing, cranberry sauce, tender pot roast with buttermilk  mashed potatoes, sweet Italian sausage with peppers and onions, and green beans.  Everything was perfect!  I tried a little of each and my favorites were the pot roast and the turkey.  Both were really tasty.  Dessert was a blueberry and strawberry shortcake, with vanilla bean whipped cream. YUM! 

While we ate, we were visited by some adorable characters!  The coolest part?  They came by several times during our meal! That never happens at other character meals we've had!

We were on the free dining plan, so we paid nothing for lunch, except for our 20% tip.  But this is what it would have cost if we'd had to pay out of pocket.

If you can book a trip and get the free dining plan- DO it!! We had 6 table service meals, 6 quick service meals, and 6 snacks each - for free.  Totally worth it!! All you will pay is your tips - please tip your servers well!   Actually, now that I think about it, we did pay a little for our plan, because we switched from the Coronado resort to Pop Century, and just upgraded the dining plan.  It was a very nominal fee, though.

My travel agent was Jo Vagos with The Magic For Less.  We paid a $200 deposit back in April, and paid a little on our trip each month.  The balance for our trip was due one month before travel.  I really suggest going this route and being able to save for your vacation throughout the year.  Please be sure to tell Jo that Aimee Ransom referred you if you use her!

Jo Vagos ~ Travel Specialist

Affiliated with The Magic For Less Travel

Email: Jo@themagicforless.com

Phone: 407-568-2789

More Disney information to come - we had a magical vacation with lots to share!  Tusker House, Chef Mickey's, Ohana, Be our Guest, and more! 

Travel - Fun things to do in Kissimmee: Abracadabra Ice Cream Factory!

If you will be in Orlando, you are probably visiting the theme parks. But what else is there to do in Kissimmee?  We were very happy to find this family-friendly ice cream shop that has a great play space, too!

Last month David and I went on an amazing trip to Disney.  We signed up for this Disney Youth Series trip with a new friend who is also a GCA mom.  She organized everything so well! We were able to purchase discounted tickets that allowed us to stay longer than I normally could have afforded.   We rented a nice big house in a resort community to hold us, my aunt, my sister-in-law and her four kiddos, plus her friend and her daughter.  I have some fun things to share about this trip over the next months, and hope that some of these tips, ideas, etc will help you in planning your next trip to Florida!

Today I want to share a fun little dessert spot that we visited twice during our week in Florida. Located in downtown Kissimmee, it's a must see!

Abracadabra Ice Cream Factory  is a unique ice cream shop.  Instead of  scooping out your favorite flavor, they use liquid nitrogen to instantly freeze your ice cream right in front of you.  They take fresh ingredients, add your mix-ins, and abracadabra.....you suddenly have ice cream!  It's a fun "magic" show that both kids and adults will enjoy.

I took David on Sunday to get some ice cream and bring some home to Aunt Anne.  I got the Mocha Madness - it is divine!   We also went back on Tuesday after a trip to the former Downtown Disney, now known as Disney Springs.

There are plenty of toss-in options, and they also have some Suggested Combinations listed on the menu board.   The small size that we all chose was actually pretty big - it was more than enough ice cream for each of us. 

My son loved watching them add the nitrogen and then quickly scrape everything into a frozen concoction. 

Here is a video I took of the process.  

They also sell pizza and other foods.  There is a nice little arcade in the building while you wait for your ice cream.  

After we paid for our ice cream, we enjoyed our treats out back, where there is plenty of covered seating and several bounce houses and playground equipment for the kiddos to enjoy.  It's a perfect stop along the way in Kissimmee!

If you will be in the Kissimmee/Disney area,  I highly recommend you check out this fun ice cream shop.

Abracadabra Ice Cream Factory is located at: 520 N Main Street, Kissimmee, FL 34744

What is your favorite thing to do (besides the theme parks!) in Florida? Please leave a comment below...