Disney World Restaurants Vibe Check

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Welcome back to another meeting of the Gold Key Adventurer Society. My name is Dan Leonard.
Hi, Dan. Joining me this week in the studio is Heather Strait.
Hello. And Mr. Jeff Williams.
Hey there. Hi there. Ho there. Sorry I blew your hi, Dan. I was reading my notes.
We'll fix the timing in post. Or not.
It's funnier for me just to screw it up. We'll leave the uncomfortable silence for everybody to experience together. Yeah.
It was so good. I'm going to leave it.

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It's like we've only done this like 200 times or so.
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Around the world, around the world.
Damn it, Jeff. We've got to pay for the licensing now. What if I just sing that little bit?
You're getting dangerously close. We've got like 10 seconds.
That was two seconds tops. Luckily, I sing out of tune and off key, so they'll never know.
They claim no copyright. We'll call it a parody.
Yes. Fair use.
Well, if you spend any time at all hanging out with the Gold Key Adventurers... We're sorry. Yeah.
But you also know that we've got a lot of opinions about the best places to eat and drink around the Walt Disney World Resort.
So many opinions. And today we're going to ignore all of those opinions because we're talking about restaurants, but we're not going to talk about food and beverage at all. Oh, that's tough, Dan.
I know. It's kind of the whole reason for those restaurants to exist.

[3:08] Instead, what we're going to try to do is we're going to try to rate some of the best and maybe some of the worst eateries on Disney property based solely on their decor and their atmosphere.
I have opinions. Minions. Some of them might be unpopular, but here we are. Yeah, mine too.
Here we are. I need to get to a few of mine.
Yeah, the atmosphere of a restaurant is almost as important as the food that they serve. If the vibes are off, the meal's going to suck.
And then when you add in Disney's, you know, they've themed the heck out of everything, and they write background stories for every bathroom and snack stand and resort hotel that they've got.
So they really do a pretty good job on the atmosphere at most of the places and it can kind of elevate yeah i think so yeah there's some that there's some that could use a little tweaking but we'll get there so uh we're just going to do this kind of like a we're going to go around the virtual table and talk about our nominations for restaurants with the best atmosphere around Disney property and then at the end we'll share some spots to get dishonorable mention.
I have five bests and five worsts.

[4:23] I didn't get quite that detailed, but I've got opinions on lots of places.
I have like 10 of each. Perfect.
All right. Well, Heather, how about we go with one of the best?
I bet we have some overlap. Yeah, there probably are some overlaps.
I prepared for that quite a bit. Heather, why don't you start us off with one of your best atmospheres for eating? One of my best atmospheres. Yes.

[4:45] Citricose at the Grand Floridian Resort post-referb.
Yeah. Yeah, make sure you specify that for anybody thinking, what the hell are you talking about?
If you haven't been since COVID and the reopen, then... Yeah, pre-COVID, the food and beverage there has always been spectacular.
Always. Before they redid the whole joint, it was looking rough. It was stuck in the 90s.
Lots of that beautiful hunter green and maroon weird patterns.
It was not good. It looked like a car lot in 1995.
It did. But they gutted the whole place, and now it is gorgeous.
Slightly Mary Poppins themed, but it's not an in-your-face kind of Mary Poppins at all. Not cartoony.
Elegant, British-looking, feminine, but not too much. Really good.
Absolutely gorgeous in there now. And it's really great views out over the resort.
You can even watch the fireworks from in there.

[5:53] They've redone the whole thing. The bar is new.
All the soft goods, all the tables, chairs, updated the menu a little bit.
It's one of my favorite places for a nice, elegant evening meal.
And the service, as always, is impeccable, which helps with the ambiance there.
Because they don't overdo it with talking to you.
They're not playing tricks on you and doing wacky skits and bullshit like that.
They're just really good servers that know what they're doing.
And the Mary Puppet stuff is so subtle.
There's a private room for private dinners. It's like the wine room.
And in the window, there's Mary's carpet bag and her umbrella.
And then there's things like the some of the patterns on the chairs are kind of vaguely carpet baggy.
I don't know how to put that, you know. Her little her outfit when she's dancing with Bert in the cartoon world, the bustier tie up front, the back of all the chairs have that lacing on them.

[7:02] Like the front of her dress is really cool. The light fixtures look vaguely like upturned umbrellas, which is kind of cool.
And there's little birds and things on the light fixtures all over in there. It's very pretty.
Great place to grab a drink, too.
Absolutely. The drink menu is great. The first time I've ever eaten there at all was post-refurb when we were there during our monorail pub crawl episode back in August.
How were we there that night? Pub Crawl was so successful I forgot it we had an excellent dinner and it was definitely it struck me that it was elegant and beautiful but it didn't feel, uptight at all no not at all very relaxing it's just a nice place to sit and be in without being the way I feel about the Grand Floridian in general not stuffy at all it's not like It's like Victoria and Albert's next door where you have to be wearing a jacket.
Yeah. Right. You have to do what?
Be wearing a jacket. Oh.
Victoria and Albert's is jacket on and Citrico's is jacket off. Yeah. Jacket optional.
Ah, that's, yes. We'll just go with that.

[8:23] We're funny to ourselves jeff what's on your list are we doing all restaurants i had one that is i love the vibe in there but it's really just a bar no i have i have lounges on mine yeah so i love the abracadabra lounge uh on the boardwalk just outside of epcot i absolutely love the vibe in there it's speaking of subtle it's like it's called abracadabra because it's magician themed But it's not over the top.
There's not up-close magic guys in your face.
I kind of wish there were. I mean, I wish there was. They have beautifully lit display cases of old magic tricks and mannequins. Magic paintings.

[9:06] Yeah, magic paintings. And the whole thing is just kind of a nod to classic, I'd say, vaudeville-era magicianry.

[9:14] I still wish they had done some cool things with the drinks.
The drinks, you know, made the drinks a little bit more magic-y, you know, something glowing or smoking or, you know, something like that.
Yeah, they kind of started going that direction then backed off of it.
Yeah. Definitely, it has a feel of, it's like the backstage bar where the musicians, not musicians, the magicians would be hanging out.
Yes. It's not a place where they go to perform magic, but it's their hangout.
You can almost always get in there. it's it's it's never empty but it's never fully crowded where you can't squeeze in and the way the seating areas are they're like little rather than tables and chairs it's banquets and conversation uh setups so like little coffee tables and that so i always wind up talking to other people when i'm in there and i've met some really fun people when i've been in there there's two tables right at the front and then a nice bar you can sit at but then the rest of it is just lounge area and i guess that used to be just the waiting room for the what's the whatever the trattoria alforna next door they turned it into i don't really remember what was in there to catch a drink while the crowd disperses when you leave epcot and you don't want to get on the skyliner yet and it's a good spot there between trattoria and flying fish if you're waiting for a reservation to grab a drink. Mm-hmm.

[10:41] Yes. I love the lighting and everything in there. It's all gold hues and velvet.
It's just really pretty in there.
Chill vibe. So when I was putting together my list, I was thinking about kind of along the lines of my rule for what I like to eat when I'm vacation.
I don't like to... If I can get it at home, I'm not going...
I'm not going to order it or eat there when I'm on vacation. Also...

[11:06] These aren't necessarily super fancy spots that I picked up,

[11:09] but places where the atmosphere does something I can't experience anywhere near where I am. So I love.
There's several of these, and they're not going to wow you on the menu necessarily.
And I'll start with the sci-fi dine-in.
Oh, yeah. I'm a sucker. I'm a sucker for any place where you go inside during daytime and you go through the door and you're outside at night.
Suddenly it's night and outdoors. And the atmosphere there and the attention to detail where you walk past where the set changes and you can see it looks like backstage in a theater kind of on those sets.
And then you walk in to the outdoors and there's even a snack stand and the picnic tables and the car.
And I just love the atmosphere of sitting there.
That is a huge favorite of my oldest son.
He loves eating in the cars, watching the old crappy sci-fi movies up on the big screen that they've never changed the reel, but they're so great.
I do wish they'd refresh that.
Yeah, maybe make it a little bit longer so that you don't see it four times during the meal.
Yeah, now that with all the Disney Plus stuff, they could just turn that into a retro ad for Disney Plus, essentially.
Back in the day when they were still doing Star Wars weekends.

[12:31] They had a Star Wars character meal in there that was fantastic.

[12:36] They had really wacky, not just the main characters, they had the cantina band walking around.
And they changed the, everything up on the screen was from the original Star Wars movies.
It was one of my favorite dining experiences at Walt Disney World ever. And I miss it.
I absolutely love that too, Dan. And I had that on my list and I debated it and I wound up taking it off because I don't like the seating arrangements if you're more than two people because I don't like...
You can't talk at all in there. Yeah, you're sitting in single file, like in a weird rose.
I don't love that, but I do love the whole vibe.
And like on my list still is the sort of similar thing with the, jeez, the German one.
Beer Garden? Beer Garden. I was going to say Old Heidelberg, but that's a place in Alabama.
Well, let's talk about that one next because that was on my list also.

[13:41] So, beer garden does the same thing to you, right? Yeah, absolutely.
I love any faux outdoor, indoor area. It's like, you know, like I'm always blown away when you're in the, quote, outdoor sections of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Same thing. Like, whoa, it looks like an outside, but I'm inside. Or inside.
Just the whole thing that you're inside a building, but it looks like you're outside. And I love the vibe of it in there. It's loud.
It's obnoxious. You sit with strangers sometimes, but that is the fun of it.
It's like a German beer hall, and I'm here for it. And I love German food.
It's not for everybody for sure, but give me sausages and bread.

[14:21] Stuff you're saying not everybody likes warm potato salad yeah i love it oh i love that stuff with the hot bacon dressing oh yeah out outside inside the one on my list from that is the san angel in in mexico the one inside the pyramid it's cool in there yeah and but it's the same sort of thing it feels like you're sitting out on a patio in front of a volcano but you're in a It's gorgeous back there.
My favorite is to glance into that on my way into La Cava del Tequila.
There you go. It's cool over there, but I'm going to go in here.
But yeah, it's that indoors and you go outdoors at night.
You get the sounds of the water and the boats.
Yeah, even the sound effects. You get a little cricket and the whole little outdoorsy faux stuff.
I love it. We're still talking about best ambiance.

[15:13] Yeah, let's stay positive until the end. You're not going to be shocked that a lot of mine are the higher-end establishments.

[15:21] Next up on my list is Topolino's. Topolino's Terrace. Hey, that's on mine, too.
At the top of Riviera. Yes, that restaurant is gorgeous.
And the views from up there, you're looking out over the resort, and it looks like you're looking out at the rooftops of Paris.
You can see some of the fireworks from up there.
You can see Epcot from up there. And they've done a great job with the ambiance in that restaurant. It's just beautiful.
You can pour hot oil onto the peasants from the outdoor terrace. Yes, that's true.
The outdoor terrace has a little bar out there. And when it's a nice night sitting out there, having a drink is great.
That's my only downside to that place is I wish they had done more with that terrace. With outside, yeah.
Yeah, like a temporary pop-up bar. I don't know. They should have done a little more out there, I think. But I love the food is great.
And the view of watching the skyliner's cars float over the lake there at night. It's so pretty.

[16:21] Great place. Great little bar in there. And if you can't get a reservation for dinner, you can always go in and sit in the lounge and have the full menu, which is fantastic.
And it doesn't feel, the lounge area is nice and open and doesn't feel like you're just shoved in at a bar.
Yeah, it's big. A lot of the bars or lounge areas in a lot of their higher-end restaurants is just like a little bitty bar.

[16:47] And if you're not sitting at the bar, there's no seats and all.
But this has ample seating around the bar. They did a great job with that.
Very similar. I also have Toledo at the top of the Grand Destino Tower on my list.
I have literally Toledo slash Topolino.
It's a similar vibe. That one, the ambiance in that one is even better because, again, you sort of feel like you're indoors, outdoors.
Not quite, but they've got all those trees down the middle.
Yeah, and that beautiful stained glass lit from above ceiling in there is so gorgeous.
It's gorgeous. Yeah. And, again, they have a really nice lounge right outside. The Dahlia is great.

[17:30] Great ambiance in there, too. And that place is open pretty late for a Disney hotel thing. It's open until 1230, I think.
And they're seating outside on the terrace next to Dahlia, which is when it's nice.
You can look out. You're looking out over Hollywood Studios, so you can see if they have any fireworks going on there.

[17:49] You can see the back of Star Wars Town USA from there, which is great.
And their food is awesome. They have the best charcuterie board on property there.
Oh, yeah. Again, for an experience, especially since it's the closest thing to an experience that's now gone, and you mentioned Star Wars Town USA, I like the Docking Bay 7, yes, in Galaxy's Edge. In Galaxy's Edge, yeah, that is a good one.
Again, it's another one of those, it's just, you know...

[18:20] The food, there's hits and misses on the menu, but we're not talking about the food.
Just the spot where I can go in and hang out in a dirty space station hangar bar and, you know, sit on weird cargo crates.
There's several of the booths that are kind of in these little alcove areas where you can have a little moment where it feels like you're going to shoot off Greedo's head or something.
And it's just one of those successful areas. Live in your Star Wars dream.
Right. If it weren't for the annoying guests who don't want to live their dream the way I do, it would be the perfect immersion into the world of Star Wars.
So I put that on my list of places that I love. Well, agree to disagree.

[19:09] Again, we're not talking food. I feel like the theming is lacking.
Like, other than the weird names, which now they've changed, it feels like I'm sitting in that backstage place at Hollywood Studios that's over there by the old Star Wars ride.
It's just like a, I don't know, food court to the stars.
The food actually is good, though. I could, well, we could do a whole other episode about why Galaxy's Edge is far underrated. Yes.
I think we've touched on it. Yeah, I'd rather be over there at the, what's the bar? What am I drawing in blank?
Oga's. Oga's Cantina. Yeah. Yes. That should be three times as big as it is and have food.
But that's another discussion.
The ambiance in there is great when they have not shoved every living human being they can fit in there at any one time. Yeah.
Why they made that place so little and some stuff so big, I'll never understand.
It's a ton of fun, and I love the ambiance in there. That is Star Wars to me.
But so often when I'm in there, you can't move.
You're at a stand-up table with 27,000 other people, and that part irritates me. It's been much better lately.
But we had an experience where there were seven of us. We had my family and Heather's family.

[20:31] They sit us at this table, and we're like, great, this is the first time we've ever got one of these booths. And we kind of barely fit there.
And then the server comes up and says, oh, you need to scoot over.
We've got to get another family at this table with you. Four more people.
What are you talking about? Eleven people at a booth fit for seven or eight.
It was not comfortable at all.

[20:54] Yeah, I want to love Oga's, and my first experience there was great.
But every time I've been back, and it's mostly because of the overcrowding, A, they've dumbed down the menu some, and B, but we're not talking about menu, the waitstaff and the bartenders weren't playing along with they want you to leave. When they do, it's fantastic.
When they do, it's great. When they do, it's great. But they have not been lately, and it's a real big disappointment.
It's kind of like the way, yeah. My best experience there was when Jeff and I did the Star Cruiser May it rest in peace.
We had so much fun in there that day because the wait staff got in on the, they saw that we were on the Star Cruiser, that we were in there on a mission and they played it up and we had a ton of fun.
Yeah, they were awesome. They were fantastic.
They were like, this guy needs secret information over here, yelling and drawing attention to the whole thing.
And that's what that place should be.
And I don't know what the proprietor there needs to get their poop in a group at that place because it's really kind of gone downhill.
It's so cool looking and the robot DJ is awesome and the drinks are good.
It looks awesome in there, but it's overcrowding and just total lack of playing along. We also had a few good experiences in there.

[22:19] It was not long after the COVID reopening.
They were trying to keep the number of people down to a minimum.
And so they were staying open for one to two hours past park close.
And you could grab a post-park close reservation and be in there.
And then it was spectacular.
So fun. I never got to do that. That was my first experience there.
It was amazing. And again, the staff was playing along then.
They were really getting into it because it wasn't overcrowded.
They weren't trying to serve so, so many people all at once.
They could focus on your group.
And it was, again, perfect Star Wars immersion in there.
And then you got to walk out when the whole park was closed and you're by yourself in Galaxy's Edge.
It was pretty spectacular. And that's just not something you can get anymore.
More wouldn't you think that oga's selling alcohol makes more money than a merchandise.

[23:18] Shop i would i would guess it's not cheap especially if you're i just don't know why they have like yeah like just get rid of one of the two stores or three stores that sell all the same stuff and make that place much larger i do not get why they made it they sell some expensive souvenir mugs and stuff in there too if you wanted it to look like it does so that it looked like like the one from the movies, essentially, make two of them or three of them.
So when you get let in, you don't know which of the three identical bars you're in.
And then they can even still do that out the back. Just like the Millennium Falcon.
Yes. They could expand it. You're in the same exact place.

[23:56] And it doesn't need to rotate or be anything complicated. You're just going to this room.
Yep. Well, here's what they've got. They've got that giant tunnel space where the Star Cruiser guests used to come in, right? Yeah. Oh, good point.
Right now, all they're using that for is check-in for the photo memory magic moment, whatever that special photo package is.
Expand the cantina over there. Yeah, or put a second Club 33 over there.
Or take the Star Cruiser and make fantastic Star Wars themed dining and lounges in there.
The bar inside of there was also too small.
Yeah, that would have been on my ambiance list, but it does not exist anymore.

[24:42] While we're on a tangent, which is really odd for us. Did you see that they're taking two of the drinks from the Star Cruiser and they're putting them in ogres at Disneyland?
At Disneyland, yes. Oh, which drinks?
The Mustafarian Fire one, right?
The one in the Warp Club. Fiery Mustafarian. Oh, yeah. They added the heat to it, yeah. Yeah, and then the Silver Sea Martini.
Yeah, that was like a purple. Yeah, and they're serving the martini in the glass that the Dagobah Vimlet was in.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, we have several of those. It's because they've got a warehouse full of that crap they've got to get rid of. Right, yeah.
But only at Disneyland because Walt Disney. Of course. Why?
Walt can't have nice things, I guess. Yeah, remove it from the people that loved it in Florida and then send the drinks somewhere else.
Disney just keeps on winning, don't they?

[25:39] Well, anyway, do we have any more positives? Do we have places? I do. I have another one.
Oh, go ahead. This one might be on your list, too. Geyser Point at the Wilderness Lodge.
It's not, but I do love the vibe there. Out there on the lake.
It's covered. There's fans.
I love that place so much. I have one called Trader Sam's. Oh, what?
Oh, yeah. It's just all vibes all the time.
I love that vibe. And a lot of people don't know this about me, but I am a bit of a tiki aficionado. Huh.
Weird. This is new information. I never would have guessed.
If you can deal with the line or the comeback two hours later or whatever and get inside that place, it's fantastic.
It's worth it. It really is. The patio is also great, except for it's the only place on Disney property that I consistently get mosquito bites outside on that patio for whatever reason.
But the inside there is awesome with the music and they play along just enough that it's not super annoying but good servers amazing drinks good food it's just my 100 love it love it there.

[26:53] I also had another, I had a few lounges, and this one I'm being specific about a specific area.
Enchanted Rose, also at the Grand Floridian, in the library area.
Mm-hmm. It's a little quieter. It's quieter in there.
I put the Enchanted Rose, the other room, on my worst ambiance list because it's so loud.
There's no soft furnishings in there. That room that used to be the gentleman's pants store or whatever it was.
Pants and belts and haberdashery. The main room has the bar, and it's fine.
But that side room is an echo chamber, and it is awful. Oh, terrible.
But the library with all of the so beautiful in there. Yeah.
Love the ambiance there. I could sit there and have fancy champagne cocktails for hours.
It's full of soft chairs and couches and conversation areas.
Lots of heavy draperies.
Is it because it reminds you of being at your home office? Yes.
It does have the same exact cabinetry. Yes.
I forgot about that. That is true. I'm looking at it right now.

[28:00] It's possible that maybe where I got some of the color choices for my office.
I don't know. Another kind of off-the-beaten-path one that I love is Enzo's Hideaway, which is sort of in a hidden tunnel-y thing down below.

[28:17] A little bit of a speakeasy. This is a two-parter. So it's down below Maria and Enzo's, which I ate at one time.
And the food was pretty good at Maria and Enzo's, but it's like eating in an airport or something.
It's very big and cavernous and loud.
But the Enzo's Hideaway is everything that isn't. The whole conceit of that is that it was a secret restaurant built in the tunnels under Disney Springs there.
Yeah, like it's a speakeasy. But it's super cool looking. The food there is amazing. And all of the servers are genuine Italians.
And it's just a great vibe in there. It's kind of quiet. And it's,

[28:57] I don't know, just a cool, cool vibe.
And if you ask where the restroom is, you have to leave that and go in this other tunnel where you come out in my next favorite one, which is the Edison.
I love the vibe inside of the Edison.
It's like the 1920s slash steampunks slash future. Like, it's so cool in there.
And the whole thing is like it was in a—the utility works for Disney Springs Old Town City or whatever.
But they've got modern jukebox people that are playing, like, the fun oldie times version of modern hits.
They have entertainment starting at 10, awesome drinks. I love that place.
It's a little bit loud. Live, jazz. But other than that, it's super fun.

[29:46] It's really creative. I like how you're going to find things there that you can't get.
And a pro tip when you're done at Maria and Enzo's, leave and go to the bathroom.
Go in the back door to Edison and avoid that $10 cover charge, my friend. There you go.
Genius. That's what the people are coming to this show for. That's right.
Tips like that. We all have to go to the bathroom together down this tunnel.
At the same time. Yeah, you're just sharing a bathroom with the downstairs part of the Edison.
But we've sat at all the different areas of the Edison. There's so many bars.
We can see the stage. There's multiple bars.
Little upstairs corner bar is great. There's two bars downstairs.

[30:26] Just, I love that vibe. The inside of Jock Lindsay's. Yes.
Where you're actually surrounded by the story and the way it feels like it's an old place that is alive.
And you're just one of the regulars there. I love that kind of look, that feel to it. I like sitting in the diving bell.

[30:46] They've got a little booth for four or so, maybe six tops. That one's always fun. It's inside of a diving bell.
It's great. But if you know, even if you didn't know anything about the sort of Indiana Jones lore there, it's so well themed with the retro airplane stuff. Just a really cool vibe.
I wish they ever used, they always have the, they have a skipper or a jungle cruise boat that is their balcony, but they never use it anymore. It's always closed off.

[31:23] Yeah, that'd be a really cool place to sit. That looks awesome.
And that takes me to the other place that I had on my list, but that one also comes with a caveat at the skipper canteen.
But I don't want to sit in the main room. I've never sat in the main dining room there, but it looks a little cafeteria like.
A little bit, yeah. It seems really noisy and not as pleasant, but if you can get into the back room. The library.

[31:48] Yeah, the SEA members lounge area is nice there.
It's got the fun nods to story.
It also depends on your wait staff.
Some of the skippers are a little bit better at doing the shtick than others.
I will say that that main area is supposed to look like a cafeteria for the skippers.
So that is kind of part of the vibe. Which is fine.
This is not what I want. But those back rooms are much better.
Says the guy who likes the docking station over in Star Wars.
Yeah, but it's a little bit different.

[32:25] I could explain, but it's not worth it. You're going to give me shit either way.
I'm going to take crap either way. Yeah, let's just take it, Dan. You know us so well.
No, Skipper's Canteen was the last one I had on my list, too, for positives.

[32:43] Oh, I had one more. California Grill. That is the last one on my list, too.
It's just gorgeous at every level. Yes, just pretty.
I love that you have to take a special elevator that only goes to there.
And when it opens, ding, you're just there at the hostess stand.
With that beautiful wall of wine behind them.
Wall of wine. I don't even like wine, but it's so pretty. And a beautiful bar.
Great lounge area for while you wait.
I just love it. And then, of course, the fireworks from inside and there's a huge balcony to go outside on either side of the restaurant.
And look, it's at the very top of the Contemporary.
It is perfection.
I love it. Love it.

[33:25] Not sure what the vibe is. I guess California, but it's, I don't know.
It's just pretty. They have pretty furnishings and beautiful light fixtures.
Yeah, the bar is great. You can sit up there at the bar and watch them rolling the sushi. It's nice.
You got another highlight, Dan?
No, that's all the highlights on my list that I could come up with.
You ready to jump right into the crappy? Dishonorable mention.

[33:52] All right, let's go to dishonorable mention. And I want to start with one first that might get, it's going to get a little bit of outrage, but you have to remember we're not talking about the food here. Okay.
I hate Steakhouse 70. Oh my gosh, that's the number two on my list.
It is just this sterile white room. There's no soft goods.
It feels like a hospital cafeteria or something. It's not a nice place to sit. The food is phenomenal.
And this doesn't apply to the lounge. I love the lounge. The lounge is perfectly fine.
The lounge is beautiful and mid-century themed. One of my favorite bars on property.
But then you move over into the restaurant and they did nothing with it.
Nothing sucks well they didn't close long enough the way it closed and this thing opened like a month literally later well and they really didn't do much it looks like it looked when it was the the wave they just change up some of the furniture a little bit a hodgepodge of ideas going yes now that back room is cool some of the some of the individual pieces and artwork in there but the furniture is terrible the tables are too close together and it's not a it's not a relaxing dining experience.
I still go there because the food is good and it's easy to get in a reservation.
I actually love to eat breakfast there because the breakfast food is phenomenal and I can overlook it.

[35:14] But dinner, I'm not really interested in eating there for dinner because of the ambiance.
Right. All the food is great, but sitting in there feels like sitting in the food court at one of the value.
And I can get that spectacular burger in the lounge at the bar. Right.
They have a couple of these round booths. If you sit at that, for some reason, it's a lot better. But everything else just feels like, yeah, like you're out.
Yeah. Food court, like you're just in the middle of this.
There's nothing to section anything off. I don't know.
Don't like it. It feels like a cafeteria, sort of. I'll sit at the bar and order that burger with the pork belly on it.
So speaking of just zero vibe, Chef Mickey.
Oh, this is number one on my list.
This is literally like you're eating at MCO in the food court.
Right. And not the good display.

[36:04] It is awful. Like that whole just sitting in the middle of an open atrium style like that.
And then it's that god-awful music. It's so dated. Every time the characters come through, the menu is like you're eating at an old country buffet in the middle of a crowded airport.
Yes. With people looking up at you from above.
Like, ugh, that place sucks on every level.
Yes. And actually, it reminds me a lot of Goofy's Kitchen out at Disneyland, which has a terrible ambiance.
Yeah, Goofy's Kitchen is better than Chef Nick's. But better than Chef Nick's.
It is, because there's a roof. And it's its own enclosed area.
It's not open to like we just saw not too long ago a picture of somebody like walking by and Pluto turned away from the guests that were inside and like peeked over the wall.
And it's like you're just on display. It's weird. Yes.
They hate it. It's gross. Yeah. Yeah.

[37:02] You got another one? uh for me i had we already you you guys covered my number one and two and we talked about enchanted rose the other room that i don't like the next one i had is garden grill yes i it needs to be redone i mean the the shtick of the revolving restaurant is not doing it i've eaten there before when it turned so slowly i never even got to the part where you can look Look into the right, I like.
Yeah. Well, here's the problem, too, though, because I really love the idea of that.
But you don't, there's nothing to see unless you walk over to the railing.
You can see the top of the house and you can see the top of the tree.
Other than that, it's crowded and it's dark and it's just not.
And if you're seated on that inner circle top level, you never see anything except the 1980s furnishings.
Yeah. It's not good. That's an awful one. It's on my list.
Also, I call this the same restaurant because I confuse which is which.
T-Rex and Rainforest Cafe.

[38:09] Oh, yeah. Just loud, awful. If you don't have little kids, and even if you do have little kids.
Even if you do, we were waiting for a table one time at T-Rex, and we went there because Wyatt was a kid, and he wanted to have, like, their version of Build-A-Bear thing.
So while we were waiting, we did the Build-A-Bear and then just canceled our reservation and left.
Like, this is awful. It's so loud and so terrible.
And T-Rex is the same thing, just loud. Sadly, a lot of these on my list are the character experiences. The next one I had is Hollywood and Vine.
Dine. Yeah, that's on mine too.
It's, again, just like a dated cafeteria buffet.

[38:55] The character experience is great. They change it out seasonally, but the ambiance in the restaurant is not good.
The food is even pretty good. Like, as far as buffets go, I've never had an issue with the food, but it is. And it's attached to one that's pretty decent vibe.
The 50s primetime is pretty good.
Like, I don't hate the ambiance in that one, but Hollywood and Vine, uh-uh.
Yeah, and it could be cool because I like a retro diner. Me too.
They didn't lean into anything enough.
It just looks like a cafeteria.

[39:32] Exactly. it needed to be just a little bit more just a little bit more and it could be great yeah, and the last one on my do not go to list that has surprisingly great food and if you can sit on the balcony it's pretty good but Planet Hollywood just.

[39:53] Okay. Absolute poop show inside of there. The last one on my list might be a crowd favorite.
I don't know, but it's Be Our Guest for me.
Don't like the vibe in there. It's just loud. It's too loud. It's just loud. Yeah.
The Rose Room is sort of cool, but it's still just concrete floors and loud. No, don't love it.
And it's like, I get that a ballroom is big and they needed to make a big space to fit all the people that were going to be there, but it's like, it's too big. It is too big. So you've got all of these tables.
It doesn't feel like a ballroom.
It feels like a cafeteria.

[40:28] Like a wedding at a barn or something. I don't know.
Yes. It feels like you're at a wedding, big wedding kind of thing.
And those spaces are essentially backstage. You're walking through a facade.
So just like we said with Oga's, there's no reason why they couldn't have made two ballrooms that were two-thirds of the size.
Make them a little bit more comfortable and pleasant to sit in and get the same or more people in there without having to make it so big and cavernous. Yes.
The one thing I really like about them, and this is going off on a weird tangent,

[41:05] but this is talking about the wide open space.
In the new Disney ship, the Wish, they took those humongous main dining rooms and split them into a bunch of small restaurants.
And it works so much better. So much quieter and so much nicer.
The best example of that is the Walt Disney and the Roy or 1923 or whatever those things are called.

[41:29] They did a great job with that by splitting the whole restaurant into two.
And then even those sections are sectioned off. So everybody's sitting in a little bit more intimate space.
And there's sound dampening. And it's so much nicer.
Yeah, intimate. That's what you want. You want to feel like it's just you and your party. You don't want to be in this cool theme. You don't want to be in, look, we're in a...
Kmart. That's another reason why it wasn't on my list.
But Ohana, the same thing where it's like, I understand why they decided the most efficient way to bring those giant platters out and serve everybody was put everybody at one giant long table. That's the length of the room.
But it just sucks for feeling, for that intimate feeling.
It really sucks the atmosphere out. Yeah, they need some sweeping redesigns of a lot of the restaurants that are older there.
Mm-hmm. For sure. Well, I think that might be a part of a lot of the problem is they were designed for crowds in 1984 or whatever.
And now they're trying to figure out how to retrofit them, make them work to 2024 crowd.
And taste. Yeah. And it just doesn't work anymore.
Yeah. They were built at a time when people loved Chuck E.
Cheese and showbiz and that sort of just big, loud, themed thing.
And that's just not what people like anymore.

[42:53] So unexpectedly, I wasn't planning on coming here, but we've come back to kind

[42:58] of this theme that we've had a lot of times.
We've talked about the Walt Disney World Resort is like more so than Disneyland actually is they need, they've sat back on their laurels too long.
Yes. And they haven't continued to evolve and stay ahead of things.

[43:19] I'm hoping maybe the competition coming down the road when Epic opens, which we keep seeing...
Absolutely mind-blowing stuff that's coming for epic and just what is this week all the announcements about about isle of burke it looks incredible right i would hope that though it would have an effect but what like so universal showed us uh burke and then the same day disney Disney showed us a bus with a rat on it.
We've got new wraps on our old buses. Yeah.
But you get a free water park visit only the day you check in.
So that's good. Or like it leaks that Universal is testing a drone show for Epic Universe.
And then two weeks later, Disney announces that they're doing a drone show at Disney Springs just for a few months. Yeah.
We have that too. We're catching up. Stop catching up.
Stay ahead of things. It's time to start focusing on Imagineering again.
It just really is. Hopefully that's happening because I see they got Joe Rohde out of retirement to teach some master classes to a new wave of Imagineers.
So hopefully. Well, yeah.
Well, I mean, obviously his space hotel that he was working on isn't going to be happening anytime soon. So he decided to come back to the mouse.

[44:47] Oh, but I'm here for it. If he can pass on some of that knowledge and creativity to a new class of Imagineers, they need it. They just really do.
Because we all know they can do extraordinary things when they put the effort in. And it's time.
They need to throw money at things. And they just keep not doing it.
Beyond Big Thunder needs to come out of blue sky and into actual reality.

[45:18] Building. Soon. Sooner rather than later. Yeah, get some shovels in the ground.
100%. They keep on telling you these things they want to do, but they're not digging any dirt.
We've said all this nay. We are naysayers sometimes, but even the places that don't have my favorite ambiance, so many of those places are even still good to eat.
Just not great with the ambiance, but still really good food and good experiences and all that. It's true.
Yeah, there are very few, I mean, there's a few places that I don't need to eat at again.
I mean, you'll never catch Jeff Williams and Chef Mickey's, I can promise you that.

[46:00] No, they still owe me for a crown. Yeah, that's true. I broke a tooth on a bolt. Yes.
Oh, yeah, that's when the bolt incident.
That happened. Distressing. What did that bolt come out of? And it was the handle to, so on the buffet they have all those serving dishes.
And it was the bolt that held the lid or the handle to the lid or something.
It was one of those rivets that goes in and the rivet had gotten hot and the bolt came out and it was in my egg snack.
Did someone at least lift it up and it hilariously fell apart in their hands and you didn't even get the kind of payoff on that? I didn't get to see the hilarious part.
I got to see the part where they were like, we don't really care.
They didn't really care.
Yeah, that was... Sad.

[46:53] But generally, and in fact, worst case scenario, I probably would still eat there again.
Chew lightly. It might not be my favorite, but there's nothing really wrong with it.
It's still better than Applebee's. A hundred percent.

[47:10] Yeah. If only because you're not at home when you're there. That's right.
That means you're at Walt Disney World. When you're there, you're family. family.
Oh, also that new Italian place at Disney Springs.
It's basically Olive Garden. Terralina. Yeah, that's it. That's unfortunate.
Nobody wants to be Olive Garden. Olive Garden doesn't even want to be Olive Garden.
All right. Well, thanks for hanging out with us again this week.
No problem, Dan. Oh, you meant the audience.
Well, you too. It's always nice to hang out with you, Jeff Williams.

[47:46] But if you're ready to eat and some of the most beautiful, interesting, or exciting spots around Walt Disney World Resort. I am.
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Thank you for the pleasure of your time.

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[49:14] Music.

[49:19] Thanks to Outer Vibe for the use of their song Hoka Hei for the intro and outro of our show.
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[49:32] Music.

[49:39] We'll see you next week for another meeting of the gold key adventurer society and until then remember life is short and the world is wide so go have an adventure.