As a family with 3 kids, you would think character meals would be at the top of our list of things to do while at Walt Disney World. Though we do make a point to hit at least a couple of character meals each trip, we also enjoy the opportunity to have a leisurely meal without the additional hassle of having the camera, video camera, and autograph books at the ready.  That said, all of us young and not-so-young wouldn’t think of our Disney trips as being complete without dining with some of our favorite Disney “celebrities”. (more…)

As a fan of Spoodles I had mixed feelings about checking out Kouzzina which took its place in 2009.  I hated losing Spoodles, but you can’t stop change – especially at Walt Disney World.  So recently I and my family finally made our way over to the Boardwalk to check out Cat Cora’s Mediterranean-style cuisine.

Even though it was the week between Christmas and New Years, things seemed to be running smoothly.  We had an ADR for dinner and were seated in a reasonable amount of time.  We were planning a light meal as we had eaten a late lunch, so we decided to share a couple of appetizers between three of us and get kids meals for two of the kids.  A couple of the kids meals are pretty familiar – cheese pizza and meaty macaroni.  There is Greek Lasagna as well as a chicken skewer with tzatziki and gilled pita bread for the more adventurous tykes.  They include a drink and two sides or an appetizer and dessert all for $8.99. (more…)

Recently, my family made our second visit to Sanaa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village.  We dined there about a year ago not too long after it opened and were anxious to return to see if it was as good as we remembered.

We had a late lunch reservation for 1:40pm and arrived with time to spare.  At check-in we were given our buzzer and headed out to look over the Sunset Savanna.  We had just enough time to enjoy spotting some of the residents before being alerted that our table was ready.  Waiting to be seated here is not a chore.  In fact, it would almost be a disappointment to have to go to your table if it weren’t for the beautiful view of the savanna that most tables afford.  We were seated right next to one of the large windows and had a perfect view of graceful giraffes and an occasional zebra as well as other birds and beasts during our meal. (more…)

Our family of 5 ate here for dinner last Friday night. We had eaten at the Animal Kingdom location several years ago and weren’t overly impressed, but our kids really wanted to eat here, so that’s how we ended up here most recently.

We put our name in at a bit before 8pm and were told it would be a 2 hour wait. We were told we could eat on the deck at the side of the restaurant overlooking the lake with a wait of about 15 minutes. However, we decided to wait it out, since this restaurant is really all about the “show” inside. (more…)

Our family of 5 (2 adults and 3 children) ate at Sanaa for lunch this past Friday. We arrived almost an hour early for our 2:25 ADR but were told the wait would not be too long if we wanted to stay and wait for a table. We probably waited at least another 40 minutes, but with so much to see, the wait wasn’t too painful – even with 3 kids. We enjoyed watching the animals on the savanna outside and appreciated the comfortable benches inside in the waiting area which also overlooks the savanna when we had had enough of the heat. (more…)

Our family of 5 ate at Spoodles for breakfast this past Saturday (June 27th, 2009). We chose to have it as a late breakfast to serve as a sort-of brunch, since we would be traveling later and didn’t want to stop for lunch along the way. We had eaten at Spoodles before for dinner a couple of times and loved it but had never experienced their breakfast before.

We arrived early and were seated within 5 minutes. Our server was an older gentle man and although nice enough, he was a bit gruff and managed to give everyone the wrong drinks and wrong food when it came. The hostesses were very nice, well informed, and willing to tell what they knew about the upcoming closing and change over to Kouzzina. They were also happy to give us a souvenir menu and SPoodles stickers for the kids when we left.

We ordered a kids Mickey waffle, a kids Mickey pancake, the French toast with sausage, the vegetable fritatta, and the Italian breakfast. It was a very good value for the money. The food was fresh and plentiful and very tasty.

We will certainly miss Spoodles when it closes and hope Kouzzina is a fitting replacement for what has become a family favorite of ours.