Tiana’s Place on the Disney Wonder
The Disney Wonder recently underwent a huge refurbishment where many of the public spaces were updated or completely re-imagined. One of those places was the former Parrot Cay, which is now the all new Tiana’s Place. From the moment that you walk down the short hallway into the restaurant, you know that a unique experience awaits! The hallway is reminisce of a New Orleans sidewalk, complete with beads in the balcony railings, soft lighting, and the iconic curlicue railings. As you walk into the restaurant, the lighting brightens and the music is subtle.
The table dressings bring out the theming of the restaurant as only Disney can do. At first glance the accents on the table are not overly obvious, but then become more apparent after sitting for a few minutes. The water glasses are all different colors with an antique cut/blown glass appearance. What looked like green placemats in the middle of the table, actually turned out to be lily pad shaped. Throughout the meal, the different courses are brought out on plates that have an adorable frog smiling up at you from the whimsical accents.
The menu offers a wide variety of New Orleans inspired dishes sure to please anyone. I started off the meal with the sautéed shrimp and grits appetizer. The grits were appropriately cooked, not to grainy or watery, and the shrimp were tender and juicy. The barbecue sauce drizzle and goat cheese bits added just enough to taste to finish off the flavor.
For the next course, I tried the New Orleans Seafood Pepper Pot which arrived in an absolutely adorable tiny “crock” pot. I was a bit apprehensive that it might be spicy, but that was not the case. The Creole Bouillabaisse was flavorful without heat or spice. There was quite a bit of calamari and shrimp, but it lacked the scallops that I was looking for.
Next up was the main entrée, I ordered the Big Daddy’s Roasted Prime Rib of Beef. I prefer my prime rib to be more on the rare side and was not disappointed when my plate arrived, The accompaniments were broccoli and carrots with a double baked potato. The vegetables were tasty, although the portion small, but the potato was dry and as I looked around, it appeared that not many people ate their potato.
Throughout the meal, there was a festive live Jazz band playing songs from the movie, The Princess and the Frog, which is the inspiration behind the restaurant, as well as authentic New Orleans music. We were sharing a table with a few ladies from New Orleans and they were singing along and kept commenting that Disney really did their homework when they chose the music to play. Towards the end of the entrée portion of the meal, the Jazz band kicked it up a notch, the wait staff picked up umbrellas and various toy jazz instruments, and they started to sing, and lead willing participants on a Second Line Dance through the restaurant.
Tiana circulated the tables during the meal, posing for pictures and checking in that everyone was enjoying her new restaurant. The giant alligator, Louie, was also in attendance, but he didn’t seem to make it around to all of the tables. He did participate in the Grand Finale Jazz event towards the end of the meal, but then left the restaurant almost immediately having not visited the back corner tables at all. I don’t know if this is standard practice, or if, since the restaurant is new, they are still working on the logistics of getting Louie around to all the tables in a limited amount of time and still have him participate in the dance at the end.
No meal would be complete without dessert. At first glance the menu appeared typical, but our waiter took a moment to show us a surprise feature! Pressing a small button in the top corner, set off a series of twinkling lights that were little fireflies darting across the menu cover. After going over my options, I decided to give the beignets a try. They were a bit more dense than traditional beignets that are offered at coffee shops in New Orleans, but they were very tasty with an appropriate amount of powdered sugar and the chocolate Espresso dipping sauce was flavorful, but in my opinion, not necessary.
Overall, the full immersive experience of Tiana’s Place did not disappoint. The theming was top notch, the music festive, and the wait staff appropriately enthusiastic. If you cruise on the Disney Wonder, don’t miss your assigned evening at this restaurant, it is more than a meal, it is a true Disney entertainment experience!
