Dining that can't be missed?

[DisneyManFamily4]

We are going back to WDW for the first time in 6 years. Last time we were there we travelled on the cheap and probably left the park to eat! This time we're staying on property and buying the dining plan. My problem is I have NO idea where to eat other than Cinderella's castle. We are not getting hoppers so we plan to go to each park once. I have a feeling we won't be back for another 5 years. Where should we eat and what dining experiences can't be missed? Just to add to the problem, my husband and kids are SUPER picky. Seriously, my husband doesn't eat vegetables and the kids are trying to follow in his footsteps. I would love to hear your thoughts on where/what to eat! Thanks!

 

[aussietravellers]

I'll give you our must do's (which is a long list but we always go for a long stay)
Ohana's Breakfast (Poly)
Kona (Poly)
Cape May Breakfast (BC)
Donald's Safari Breakfast
Rainforest Cafe (DTD, not on dining plan)
50's Prime Time
Sci-Fi
Boma Breakfast
Jiko
Mara (CS and yummy)
Yak & Yeti

We have many others that we LOVE and will be doing on our trip and have always done, but those above are out must do's.

 

[DisneyManFamily4]

Thank you! This gives me some direction. I appreciate your help.

 

[badblackpug]

I think maybe you should stick with buffets or family style meals. Our favorites are:

Ohana (dinner)
Chef Mickey's (breakfast or dinner)
Tusker House (breakfast)
Crystal Palace (breakfast/dinner)
Sanaa (probably not good for picky eaters)
50's Prime Time

 

[FINFAN]

there are 2 ways to look at dining, for the food or for the entertaiment. Character meals tend to offer both, but they do use up a lot of time. Now, this can be goos as it is a needed break for many while still enjoying the magic of WDW, but for others they miss the extra 45-60 minutes used from regular TS, or up to an hour and a half from CS.
Allera.net has menus I think, you can head on over there and see what places have the type of food you like, or atmosphere. One nice thing too is if you are interested in scoping out resorts for futire stays or just to experience them, book a ressie there...like Sanaa at AKL, you can view the animals while you eat whichis cool, get to see AKL , and try some different entree's. If staying close to parks or in the parks, plan your schedule of park days and then choose maybe 1 CS and 1 TS from that park. TS can add up, if you are on the DDP it helps in trying new places.
We try to eat at a 3 new TS on a trip, but we have favorites and ones we know are not going to throw a wrench into our touring...
Ones we have yet to be disappointed at and usually eat at every trip are:
Chef Mickeys/ Contemporary Resort ( have had breakfast and dinner there, and celebrated bithdays there)
Sci-Fi/DHS ( always eat here, family favorite)
Tangerine Cafe /Morocco (Epcot) great platters here to share
Fountain /Dolphin...good sandwiches, ice cream
Boardwalk Bakery/ Boardwalk ( we order sandwiches to go and take them to the park)
Cosmic Rays/ MK
Prime Time/DHS

ones we hope to try on our next trip

1900 Park Fare breakfast/ GF
Crystal Palace/MK ( breakfast or dinner)
Sanaa/AKL or Cape May buffet dinner/ BC

We ahve also enjoyed Coral Reef, and we tend to book late lunches at TS places, menu is usually the same asw dinner for foods we like,but a little less $ and we are ahead of the rush for dinner, then can enjoy a snack in the evening.
Have fun planning and there are several threads with pictures of both food and inside of restaurants , they are pretty fun to nose around in.

 

[FireDancer]

My only must do ADR is Boma (Dinner) in the AKL. The only other restaurants I consider for every trip are The Wave in the Contemporary and Kona (Lunch) in the Poly.

In the parks I like Crystal Palace, Biergarden, Tusker House, Garden Grill (limited menu, check online first to see if you like the options), and Sunshine Seasons. That last one is technically counter service but there are a lot of great selections.

 

[bitohoney]

50's Prime Time, Coral Reef, Yak & Yeti and Crystal Palace are my favs.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Here our my family's favorites:

Le Cellier
Raglan Road, preferably after 8PM so we can hear the band.
'Ohaha
Chef Mickey's
Sci-Fi Dine In
Wolfgang Puck's Express
Cosmic Ray's
Sunshine Seasons

These are all for lunch and dinner. Breakfast usually consists something fast since we want to be in the park in the morning.

 

[jacksmom]

We always enjoy Crystal Palace, Kona, and Coral Reef!

 

[WelshieLover]

For picky eaters it is more difficult. I agree that buffets are probably a good option for picky eaters.

Sunshine Seasons is a great counter service at the Land in EPCOT for lunch or breakfast.

We really enjoyed Akserhaus Princess meal for luch. I too am picky but I foudn their open chicken sandwich wonderful. The meal includes a "Cold Board" which has cold cuts, cheeses, salads and peel and eat shrimp, then you get a warm plated meal and dessert. We liked it so much we went twice on our last trip.

We did go to Boma at AKL. We liked it very much. There are a lot of vegetables on the buffet, but a lot of meat options too.

 

[ReneeA]

For our next trip in August, I booked all of our favorites, and some new ones that get great reviews (all dinners because we love rope drop, and would rather walk onto rides than sit down and eat):

1900 Park Fare (new to us)
Mama Melrose Fantasmic package
Teppan Edo
Wave (new to us)
'Ohana
Coral Reef
Cape May Cafe (new to us)
Yak and Yeti (new to us)
Chefs de France (new to us)

Others that we really like, but didn't book this trip:
Sci-Fi Diner (lunch)
Kona (my favorite)
The Plaza

 

[eeyoregon]

Here are my top 3:

1. Dinner at 'Ohana's
2. Dinner at 'Ohana's
3. Dinner at 'Ohana's

Any questions?

 

[tami82]

Here are my top 3:

1. Dinner at 'Ohana's
2. Dinner at 'Ohana's
3. Dinner at 'Ohana's

Any questions?

I agree with this

 

[moray26]

How many days are you going to be there? You mentioned that you are going to each park once, so here are my favorite table service in each park and then my top 3 resort table service (with picky eaters in mind

Magic Kingdom - Crystal Palace breakfast
Epcot - Garden Grill dinner (you can get French fries, etc. as alternate options)
Hollywood Studios - Sci-Fi Dine-In
Animal Kingdom - Yak & Yeti (if you like Chinese food)

Downtown Disney - Cap'n Jack's Restaurant

Beach Club Resort - Cape May Cafe breakfast or dinner
Grand Floridian Resort - 1900 Park Fare dinner
Old Key West Resort - Olivia's Cafe

 

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

One of our favorites is the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue and we always begin with that as our first dinner.

 

[danielle.st]

How old are your kids?
We went in December '08 and I could have written your post, almost. My oldest dd isn't too picky though. We are going again in April, so you never know! You might get another trip in!
My picky dh, who is not a huge veggie fan and loves his simple foods was very pleasantly surprised. He had a lot of must-do's for this next trip:
Hollywood & Vine breakfast
50's Prime Time
Mama Melrose
Crystal Palace (breakfast is the meal we did and will also do a dinner this time)
The Plaza
Biergarten
Everything Pop

He also enjoyed (but didn't make a must do of)
HDDR
Beach Club Cafe breakfast
CRT (must do for me and my oldest dd!)
Tusker House breakfast
Akershus lunch

He wasn't crazy about:
Sci Fi (although my kids adored this place)
Chef Mickey dinner
1900 Park Fare dinner


My older dd found plenty to eat. My younger was fine with he pizza and snacks
I loved everyplace we went, except HDDR because I should have asked for the veg platter and did not (my own fault).

 

[MMrules]

Our favorites are:
Crystal Palace (MK) buffet
Biergarten (Epcot) buffet, but great variety
O'hana (Poly) breakfast was great
Flame tree BBQ (AK)

I agree to check over the menus so that you can actually see what each restaurant offers and that should help you plan.

 

[DisneyManFamily4]

How many days are you going to be there? You mentioned that you are going to each park once, so here are my favorite table service in each park and then my top 3 resort table service (with picky eaters in mind

Magic Kingdom - Crystal Palace breakfast
Epcot - Garden Grill dinner (you can get French fries, etc. as alternate options)
Hollywood Studios - Sci-Fi Dine-In
Animal Kingdom - Yak & Yeti (if you like Chinese food)

Downtown Disney - Cap'n Jack's Restaurant

Beach Club Resort - Cape May Cafe breakfast or dinner
Grand Floridian Resort - 1900 Park Fare dinner
Old Key West Resort - Olivia's Cafe

We're going for four maybe five days if we can find good airfare that includes the extra day. We're staying at AKV and plan to eat lunch and dinner using the dining plan.

 

[DisneyManFamily4]

How old are your kids?
We went in December '08 and I could have written your post, almost. My oldest dd isn't too picky though. We are going again in April, so you never know! You might get another trip in!
My picky dh, who is not a huge veggie fan and loves his simple foods was very pleasantly surprised. He had a lot of must-do's for this next trip:
Hollywood & Vine breakfast
50's Prime Time
Mama Melrose
Crystal Palace (breakfast is the meal we did and will also do a dinner this time)
The Plaza
Biergarten
Everything Pop

He also enjoyed (but didn't make a must do of)
HDDR
Beach Club Cafe breakfast
CRT (must do for me and my oldest dd!)
Tusker House breakfast
Akershus lunch

He wasn't crazy about:
Sci Fi (although my kids adored this place)
Chef Mickey dinner
1900 Park Fare dinner


My older dd found plenty to eat. My younger was fine with he pizza and snacks
I loved everyplace we went, except HDDR because I should have asked for the veg platter and did not (my own fault).

Son is 14 and daughter is 9. He's a salt loving kid and she loves sweets. Husband no veggies. I'm the only one who will try (and enjoys) eating anything with veggies. I make my kids try one bite of everything but that's usually all they will give me. I hope their taste buds warm up to different foods with time.

 

[DisneyZane]

Check the menu pages on allears to make sure there's something they can eat at each place, and here's a good link to best restaurants by various criteria:

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/the-best-restaurants-series/

My must eats are:

Liberty Tree Tavern
Beaches and Cream
Le Cellier
Boma

Ohana used to be a favorite, but the last couple of trips have been disappointing.