Cars Land Dining — Information, photos and more

[lighttragic]

FF&P cafe takes way too long if you just want Starbucks. My friend use to work for Starbucks and the company has a two minute turn around time on drinks we waited 30 minutes. I didn't like the chocolate sauce that comes with the churros but flo's was yummy.

Lets not forget FF&P Cafe like everything else is still in preview mode which means they still make adjustments to training. I have seen ranges from just a few minutes to 30 minutes. Once they get it all worked out I am sure it will be manageable

[SoCalbma]

Here's a tour of Flo 8 I recorded on Monday the 11th.

[Dustysage]

Here's a tour of Flo 8 I recorded on Monday the 11th.

You sir, are AMAZING!

[croboy82]

That view is really great!

[SoCalbma]

Here's an overview/tour of Cozy Cone Motel recorded on the 15th.

[disneyrand1]

New restaurants summary:

They will all be popular in the short-term, as guests (and especially AP's) try the new-ness.

After that:

Flo's food is too heavy, will not be popular. They'll need to revamp this menu, burgers/fries would be perfect here, would fit the ambiance perfectly. Most of the food will be perceived as "too weird".

Cozy Cones: Some of the food is fantastic (Chile "Cone" Carne, Chicken Verde Queso) but the ODV-nature of the location will be a huge challenge. 1+ hour waits for food during peak hours, for a while. If you're into 1-hour waits for popcorn with spicy seasoning sprinkled over it, you'll love this.

Fiddler / Fifer / Practical: Think Jolly Holiday + Starbucks. Potentially the most popular restaurant in DCA. Grand Slam / Slam Dunk.

Carthay: Stunning / gorgeous ambiance with mediocre food. Seriously: folks who appreciate fine dining will be underwhelmed, others will have sticker-shock and complain about the price. The ambiance will be the selling point here; the food will be a universal thumbs down. Will be shocked if anyone, a year from now, talks about the food here in a positive way (after the initial opening buzz has diminished). Worst lamb I've ever had, veal (sampled from a friend) was not any better. This is not Napa Rose by any stretch of the imagination... and the service needs some serious work too.

...First impressions.

The problem: Imagineers "won". No one listened to TDA, which looks at the numbers... i.e. empirical data of what guests actually purchase (what the guests actually want/demand, therefore what Disney should supply). Attractions, yes Imagineers should be given huge latitude to indulge their vision. Food & Beverage: ancillary, and the number-crunchers might actually have some insight. No, that does not mean fill the park up with churro carts. Yes, it does mean maybe a huge steak-house in the middle of the park is probably not going to be successful.

Sorry for the stream-of-consciousness commentary; like I said: first impressions. :-)

Sorry, but I couldn't disagree more with the bolded quote. The big gripe that many people have with the parks' food is the generic "burger type" foods being the vast majority of options.

My aunt and uncle are HUGE Disney fans. They've been going since the early 70's and their biggest complaint about Disneyland (especially in comparison to Disney World) is the lack of decent "full meal" restaurants.

I'll also add that Flo's was one of the best "bang for your buck" restaurants that we ate at on our entire trip. We didn't find the food "weird" or "too heavy" (my daughters eat like birds, BTW). They both finished their meals and were fine for the majority of the rest of the day. In fact, we ended up eating light in the evening because our Flo's lunch was actually sustaining.

The pork loin with Coca Cola BBQ sauce was my youngest daughter's 2nd favorite meal of the weak (as a salmon lover the dinner at the French Market took the top spot). We loved it and look forward to eating there again in December.

[jeannie2252]

We ate at Flo's yesterday and had the turkey with mashed potatoes (yummy) and veggies...also had the kids Mac and cheese which was also yummy and came with very thin apple slices and grapes and veggies. Later at the Cozy cones we had the churro bites with the chocolate sauce----extremely yummy! Very happy with the new food choices in the park!

[WorldDisney]

Ate at Flos today and I have to say I REALLY liked it! The place in general is just well done and just a cool place to have a meal period. But the view, wow the view, is bar none one of the best restaurants to eat at alone! We ate outside where Oranament Valley is and couldve watched the cars race for hours with beers and wouldve been fine. And its such a big restaurant with seating everywhere you wont have a hard time finding great spots if you are patient. I thought all the views would just be in the small inside area. I was surprised to see the outside area that was easily 3 times the size.

As for the food, I really liked it. Did the NY Sorloin and it was filling! Yeah I hear the other person who expect to have burgers and fries kind of food there and in fact a family right behind me in line was looking for just that and dissappointed there was nothing like that. Of course me being the DIsney nerd and on Disney websites I knew what to expect a long time ago, but the average customer who walks in the place, especially if they are famaliar with California diners and not Rt 66 ones will think burgers first naturally so I do think people either have to adapt in time (which most people do actually) OR if the menu is not grabbing people once the newness wears off will add to it. Some reason though I do think will be the former. We'll see, but I have no problem with it personally and if nothing else a great place to grab a pie or a shake and watch the cars go streaming by!

[MaryAnn in Wndrlnd]

Ate at Flo's THREE times this weekend.

Saturday, Breakfast: Brioche French Toast with Bananas and Salted Caramel Sauce, Mater's Tulsa Tea
It was DELICOUS. HOWEVER. It is really more of a dessert. The french toast is actually a bread pudding. They lay two halves of bananas on top and drench the thing in great, salted caramel sauce. I could only put down half of it because it was too desserty. I wish they sold it all day; I'd split it for dessert at dinner. The Tulsa Tea is just the usually lightly sweetened fountain tea with a tropical fruit foam. The foam really did taste like fruit. But I wish I knew what it was made of as it came from a whipped cream style can, store bought.

Saturday, Dinner: Pork Loin with Pasta Salad and Mashed Potatoes
The pork loin was good. The Coca-Cola BBQ sauce tasted good. But the pork wasn't a stand out. I LOVED the pasta salad and LOVED the mashed potatoes. The roll was good, but dry. Could have used some butter. Didn't see any. The pork loin is probably going to be my #1 lunch/dinner choice.

Sunday, Lunch: NY Strip Loin with Pasta Salad and Mashed Potatoes, Mater's Tulsa Tea. (I also tried the Mac and Cheese off my husband's plate.)
So, clearly, I liked the tea enough to order it again as well as the pasta salad and mashed potatoes. The NY strip was just okay; didn't care too much for the beef gravy. It tasted too heavily of flour or corn starch. And there was a lot of fat and grissle on the meat. The mac and cheese was probably made with velveeta. But I liked it! And the kid's plate also came with FRESH cut apples (not the prepackaged slices) and peas and carrots cooked with a little brown sugar I think. Tasty!

Service was EXCELLENT all three times. When I asked if they had to-go boxes for my leftover french toast, not only did the cast member say yes, he insisted that he would bring it to my table even though I said I'd go get it myself. All the cashiers were friendly as was the expediters handling the food orders.

---------- Post added 06-18-2012 at 07:47 PM ----------

I also purchased from the Cozy Cones the Pretzel Bites and Red's Apple Freeze two days in a row.

Here's the thing. The Pretzel Cone ALWAYS has the shortest line. But the Pretzel Bites are SO DARN GOOD. It's like a cross between pretzel bread and a regular pretzel. And Red's Apple Freeze tastes like cream soda mixed with apple juice. It's a really nice slushy. I overheard the cast member tell some hippies in front of me that it was ALL NATURAL, but has sugar added.

I hope this cone's line stays short, because I will want Pretzel Bites EVERY TIME I GO! (The husband agrees too. They're a winner!)

[cris77]

The pretzel bites at Cone 4 were amazing!! Yes the line was slow, but that was easily the shortest line at the Cozy Cone and comparatively the fastest. Seriously. Amazing. Pretzels. That cone probably held like 2 full sized pretzels, so definitely plenty to share.

I do wish that they would up the 'kitch' and specialty factor at the Cozy Cone (not to mention making the no-discount price that much easier to deal with) by offering other dips: strawberry or vanilla icing/dip for the churros and jalapeno or white cheddar for those oh-so-dreamy pretzels...

[MarkILIS]

"Would you like your churro made smaller, cut up into pieces and served with cold chocolate dipping sauce for a dollar fifty extra?"

Glad I tried it, but I'll stick with an ordinary churro, thank you.

[jeannie2252]

I just hope all these unique foods stay for many many years and they don't decide to go to generic theme park food to save money down the road. I still miss the criss-cut fries at Taste Pilots..

Ditto---I miss them too. They might not have burgers at Flo's but at least you can still get them at Taste Pilots Grill....

[CritterCountryGirl]

So it sounds like Flo's food is really good, but what are the portion sizes like? I like my meals kinda on the bigger side and some of the pictures I've seen make the meals look like they could be pretty small...especially the breakfast.

[Ron W]

Lunch today at Flo's - pork loin with mashed potatoes and cole slaw and Mater's Tulsa Tea:

[ghosty4]

FF&P cafe takes way too long if you just want Starbucks. My friend use to work for Starbucks and the company has a two minute turn around time on drinks we waited 30 minutes.

JUST for clarification...you were the only people in line and there weren't say... 12-15 other people ordering Starbucks in front of you? (12 people ordering Starbucks@2 minutes per drink=24 minutes)