Friday, November 25, 2016

Review of the New Tiana's Place on the Disney Wonder

Along with another Wishdrawals agent, Kasey Diep, I had the opportunity to sail on the Disney Wonder November 14-18. One of the things I was most excited to see was the new Tiana's Place restaurant.

Tiana's Place replaced Parrot Cay Restaurant on the Wonder. While the food in Parrot Cay was good, the decor was dated and the servers' costumes were rather unattractive. These are photos from the Panama Canal cruise in 2015.















Tiana's Place is based on the restaurant Tiana opens in the movie The Princess and the Frog. They changed more than just the decor though; Disney also moved all of the servers' stations to the outside edges rather than scattered throughout the restaurant so that no one's view is impeded by serving stations!

In the front of the restaurant, there is also a small stage set up for a jazz band to play each evening. I had heard that Tiana was in the restaurant each night but I wasn't sure if that was true or not!


Right from the start, Tiana's is beautiful! Here is the entry way:

Entry way sign

Masks and Mardi Gras beads high above the sign. It simulates a balcony
with decorative ironworks and the masks and beads.




Beautiful entryway!

When we arrived for dinner, Tiana herself was greeting guests near the podium! We were quickly seated at our table which was near the stage. We were excited to sit near the front...until the music started!

Being close to the stage meant we had a great view of the musicians, but it also meant it was really loud! They started playing soon after we sat down; we quickly realized that we couldn't even converse with our other four tablemates.



Tiana greeting her guests with the musicians

The menus looked great, too, and it was hard to choose one thing from each section of the menu. I finally decided on a tomato soup for a starter.

Yummy tomato soup!

When it was time to choose a main entree, it was even harder! Kasey had the pork tenderloin with rice and greens on andouille sausage stew. I went with prime rib with the double baked potato

Pork with rice and greens over the stew!

Prime rib with the twice baked potato, broccoli, and a potato.

While we were eating our entrees, the entertainment went up a notch! Tiana wandered around the dining room visiting with her guests. Louis the alligator came in to visit, and many guests got their pictures taken with him. Then the entertainment really kicked up! The servers started a giant dance line street party with pretend instruments, umbrellas and dancing!

Louis visiting in the dining room.




After the street party, the musicians wrapped up, and we were finally able to introduce ourselves to our tablemates! Our server came around to take our dessert orders. Dessert was the hardest of all to choose because they all sounded great... beignets, Bananas Foster sundae, pecan pie tart! The menu was funny, too. The outside of it was dancing frogs on lilypads and the lightning bugs lit up by pressing a button!



Check out the "lightning bugs" on the front of the dessert menu!



Then the desserts arrived!

Beignets with chocolate dipping sauce!

Pecan pie tart




Bananas Foster Sundae!

The next day we chatted with friends who were seated in the back of the restaurant. They said the music was a great volume but they couldn't see the musicians playing, so I guess there are some trade-offs for sitting in the front!

Overall, this was a great experience! The food was great, the ambiance of the restaurant was fun and lively. The servers costumes are straight from Tiana's Place in the movie! I think the Wonder now has three amazing restaurants, and this was definitely one of my favorite meals of the cruise.

Long story short, if you are sailing on the Wonder, Tiana's Place is fabulous! Live entertainment, fun atmosphere, and fabulous food. You can't go wrong!


Susan Burks is a Disney travel planner at WishdrawalsTravel, a military wife, and a homeschooling mom to a 
robot-programming, space-loving 11 year old!  

She and her family love visiting Disney World and taking Disney cruises. With eight Disney cruises under her belt, she is now preparing to embark on a ninth Disney Cruise--this time the trans-Atlantic cruise--and planning her next Disney World visit, too!








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