Here at Tips from the Disney Diva, we give you honest reviews. This includes some experiences that are not always so special! For other World of Color Dining options, check here.
By California Diva
On our last Disney vacation we spent seven glorious days at The Grand Californian in Disneyland, CA. I had our schedule pretty much all worked out before we got there. I included a dinner reservation for The Wine Country Trattoria at California Adventure Park so we could obtain World of Color Tickets after the dinner. When booking such reservations make sure to always ask for the World of Color (WOC) dinner packages. Last year during our Fall vacation there we made WOC dinner reservations for Ariel’s Grotto which was fabulous so I thought why not do it again this year? Hmmmm.
We spent a lovely day at California Adventure, making our way to Cars Land, riding Radiator Springs Racers (my daughter will tell you how Mommy was like a football player taking advantage of our early park admission, running through the park to make her touchdown for the rope drop in front of the ride). By the time dinner came around we were starving. So we headed to our WOC dinner reservation and the restaurant Wine Country Trattoria, located near the boardwalk and not too far from Cars Land. We were about a half an hour early, so we had a nice rest at the benches out in front.
One thing I have to say is the restaurant is decorated beautifully. I love Italian restaurants and was very excited to eat here, as I’ve never read any bad reviews about this restaurant before. When we decided it was time to go in the restaurant for dinner, we asked to be seated and the hostess asked us if we were there for their “regular menu” or the “World of Color Dining Package”? I said the latter. We were seated outside by a nice young waiter. All of the seating is outside and mostly under a trellis of wisteria. We were handed the World of Color Menu and almost immediately were disappointed with the choices on it. There was a choice of salad or soup, and three different entrees including: Braised Lamb Shank, Seafood Pasta and Herb Roasted Chicken breast, Fish of the Day, Fillet Mignon and Broccolini Aglio Olio (Pasta with olive oil and broccoli). Dessert came with a tray of Trattoria Tiramisu, European Macaroons, Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Fresh Fruit and Chocolate Caramel Espresso Tart for everyone to share.
I must say the choices are not very child friendly. I’m not sure about your child, but Lamb Shank and Fillet Mignon are not usually the kind of foods my children pick to eat when we go out to a restaurant. Especially on vacation! Our food was cold and not very tasty. I noticed that a lot of people at the restaurant were older people without children drinking wine. It’s not what I would call a “family restaurant”. The desserts were wonderful, but by that time we were so hungry from not eating our cold, tasteless dinner that anything probably would have tasted great. When our waiter came around to give us the check I just thought to myself, “please give me my World of Color Tickets already.” My eyes still adjusting to the $245.00 price tag for dinner, I grabbed my tickets for the 8:15 p.m. showing of World of Color and ran out of there.
My daughter was so excited, as last year when we dined at Ariel’s Grotto our World of Color tickets were right in the front practically on the water. So when we got to the usher and she guided us to the middle section, we were really disappointed to say the least. Especially because my wallet was still crying from the bill at Trattoria! So my advice, please do your homework before making your dinner reservations. Go online to Yelp or check online blogs about restaurants that you and your family would like to go to inside the park. I didn’t do this and I really paid dearly for it. Did my family and I enjoy the show? Of course we did. Would I eat there again? Probably not. Mental note to self, just because a restaurant seems like a great place to eat and they offer what packages you want, doesn’t mean you’re going to get what you pay for.
