Stupid Dining Tricks?

[felinefan]

A year after the Northridge Quake, mom dragged me back east to Pennsylvania for three years. During that time, I discovered a great little chain called Isaac's. They have sandwiches named for birds, though the vegetarian selections have flower names. Their ice cream desserts were to die for! Service was excellent, prices were fair, and all in all they were quite creative. Oh, and since the mascot of Isaac's is a flamingo, darn cute menus as well! Wish we had them out here on the West Coast....
The only thing I thought was odd about the menus was, on the back it said " 'Cukes" describes cucumbers." Why on earth a place that's in the middle of the Garden Spot of America would they not know that cukes are cucumbers? But let's face it, in Pennsylvania, they're like 20 years behind the times. You go into a public restroom, there's no toilet seat covers; my word of honor, you have to buy packets of them and carry them with you. I think I still have some left, somewhere....

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

When DW and I were planning a trip, we were in the Magellans web site. They sell packs of toilet seat covers, toilet paper, and wipes. At first I thought it was funny, then remembered some of the more "rustic" areas we have visited, now I'm not so sure....

[goofyjoe]

I have been to several seafood places here and also to Cape May Cafe. Sorry, the seafood sucks here. Maybe a small mom and pop place right on the coast will change my attitude but anywhere inland, not going to happen.

Yeah, having returned home and had some seafood here, I think that I can verify what you're saying. Cape May is decent for seafood in my opinion. My mom always makes it a mandatory stop. When we had a huge extended family "reunion" (15 people) we did it with long-sleeved yellow Disney T-shirts and it worked well for that. This past trip, we had some other extended family along (yay DVC points!) and we had the dark purple short-sleeved shirts. I think they know who we are by now ;)

My favorite place on property used to be the Brown Derby, but Le Cellier and Teppan Edo may have moved to the front after the last trip!

[Big Wallaby]

My favorite place on property used to be the Brown Derby, but Le Cellier and Teppan Edo may have moved to the front after the last trip!

Has anyone been to Tokyo Dining yet? I agree about Teppan Edo. While the atmosphere of Brown Derby was neat, and while the company the one night I went there was great, it wasn't my favorite. Certainly wasn't bad, but certainly not my favorite.

[jenjenboben]

I have to say, the DDP has it's pros and cons. I work in the Disney Reservation Center and we get SO many calls about it. Some guests take it for what it is, use it properly, and love it. Others try to manipulate the hell out of it.

I know that people are disappointed when I tell them that Le Cellier doesn't have any tables open next week, neither does the Royal Table... and no, Chef Mickeys is full too. Most likely so are Ohana, Coral Reef, Akershus, Tutto Italia, Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree, 1900 Park Fare... I could go on and on. But that's not my fault, and you can't honestly expect to get a res that close to a holiday.

As for multiple reservations, it's DRC policy that they are not allowed. We are supposed to check their name to see if they have another res, but if it's under a different name or misspelled, there's not a lot we can do. People try it do with resorts too, especially room only, because they can cancel 5 days out with no penalty.

My favorite is when people say well I'll just book it, it's okay if I don't show up right? No, it's not okay... there are families who want that table and WILL show up. As of now, the only places we take full payment for are Royal Table, and dinner shows. Akershus is a CC guarantee as are candlelight packages. You would think Le Cellier would be a guarantee but it's not.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

That is a good question, Why dosn't WDW start to take a CC reservation? I wouldn't mind it. And it would probably solve a LOT of problems for the reservation CM's!!

[Andover84]

What I really miss is good seafood. I used to go to the Plymouth waterfront and go to Woods Seafood. Huge plates, reasonably priced (the tourists really did not go there, they went to the Lobster Hut down the street) Down here in FL, I'm sorry, the seafood sucks. Went to Joe's Crab Shack the other night (my boy works there, get's a discount on food). Good, in fact, very good calimari but let's not talk about the shrimp and fish plate.

I also miss Legal Seafoods Chowder. The New England style clam chowderdown here, is definately, not New England style.

For all you Boston transplants there is a Legal Seafood in West Palm Beach and a Friendly's in Kissimmee.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

For all you Boston transplants there is a Legal Seafood in West Palm Beach and a Friendly's in Kissimmee.

ALLRIGHT!!! got hooked on Friendlys food when I was in Boston!!!!

[Kwahati]

I'm certainly not one to disagree with that point, but to serve on the first Thursday in January requires planning and menu testing the last week of December -- right in the middle of the holiday rush. Don't take it personally.

Out of curiosity (at least, it's only curiosity until I know about pricing) what would eight courses with wine set a guy back? I'm thinkin' it's just shy of $200 at V&A, but they serve every night... I'd think it might be a little more for something that's even more special and rare... Any info would be greatly appreciated as I'll be there for the first Thursday in march. (Don't know if I can swing it, but it's an idea to kick around)

By The Way: sorry this question is coming so late after the original discussion, it appears that this conversation was happening while I was down in WDW recently and, therefore, most decidedly away from computers...

[bpgstudios]

That is a good question, Why dosn't WDW start to take a CC reservation? I wouldn't mind it. And it would probably solve a LOT of problems for the reservation CM's!!

As long as DRC doesn't stress that during fireworks and parade time at MK that if they are late to their reservation they will lose it, and informs them that paths may be blocked/plan to get there early, I'm fine with it. You should see some of the SGs fly off the handle when they need to walk around to the front of the castle to get to CRT during a parade because we have fireworks testing in Fantasyland. They FLIP OUT thinking they will be late and will get their reservation canceled.
Don't even get me started on the Christmas party nights where we had stage shows followed by fireworks testing so for 20 minutes you could only go to the castle from the front (using only the ramp closest to the liberty square bridge) followed by 30 minutes only from the back (via the ropes by snow white's scary adventures).

I know that it's not the CMs at DRC's fault, but I really do think that the guests should be informed that if their reservations are during fireworks or parade time, they need to plan to be there early.