Non Disney Restaurants

KEVD said:

Although we do really enjoy dining at Disney, the WDW restaurants are extremely expensive. And I feel you could easily find meals that are just as good and at a lower cost offsite. You can get a decent sit down meal for four at Chilis for about the same price you'd pay for QS at Pecos Bills or Pinnochios Village Hause.

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This is true, but OP won't have a car and would be paying for a taxi to get to the offsite restaurants which would seriously eat into any savings.

Drow said:

We will not have a car and we will be staying at Disney Port Orleans. We plan on going to Downtown Disney one day but would like to go somewhere non-Disney to eat that is close. Will I need to get a taxi?

robinb- The food at Disney is expensive and not that great. I can get two adult meals and a kids meal at Outback for the price of one meal I can at one of Disney's restaurants. I'm not saying that I do not like the Disney restaurants. The food is just ok.

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Just for fun I priced out the prime rib dinner at Boatwright's at Riverside and the prime rib dinner at Outback - there was only an approx. $10 savings. I'm guessing a taxi would cost more than that.

Meanwhile, thanks for the head's up on the German restaurant - will have to give that one a try!

Drow said:

We will be heading to Disney World and will be staying on site but we do not want to eat at their restaurants. Any recommendations on restaurants around the Disney area like an Outback or other chain/local place? Proximity to Disney? Thanks.

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OP, is this your first time at Disney? Just so you know, Disney is kind of like in a little cocoon where it is isolated from the rest of the world. It is not very easy to access the outside world if you do not have a car.

Will there be any kids in your party or just adults? If it is just adults, you could potentially take a Disney bus to downtown Disney. Then walk down Hotel Plaza Blvd towards Crossroads plaza. There is a Fridays, Unos, Chevys, Buffalo Wild Wings, etc. there. It would be quite a walk though, so I wouldn't do it with kids. But it is doable. Also, some of the hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd have restaurants. There is a Benihana in the Hilton that we have been wanting to try. But I haven't recently priced it out compared to, say, the Japanese place in EPCOT.

What might be most helpful is for us to give you ideas about restaurants on property that are good and relatively inexpensive and give you the most bang for your buck.

I might recommend the restaurants in the Swan and Dolphin. They are, for all purposes, on property. In the Dolphin, they have an ice cream parlor place with diner fare and ice cream. We eat at Kimonos in the Swan every trip for sushi. There is even a character meal on select days at either the Swan or the Dolphin, can't remember. It only has 2 characters, but might be a good, cheap alternative to a character meal if you have kids.

We've had a cheapish meal at Via Napoli in EPCOT. Me, DH, DD23 and DD19 shared a large (not the mega rectangle one, but the large round one) pizza.

I've read that Trails End buffet at Fort Wilderness is good and cheap(ish), but we have never been there.

Our typical strategy to minimize costs at Disney is to go to places where you order off the menu and not the family style or buffet places. $70 for dinner at Cinderella's Castle is not worth it for us as my DD might eat a piece of bread and some fruit for her meal! When you order off the menu, you can somewhat control costs. My DD will maybe order an appetizer or we share a larger meal, etc.


Maggie

For the price of burgers and fries on property, I can get a steak at Texas Roadhouse. I have a car and eat off property as much as I can. Wild Side BBQ is a favorite - just head west on Rt 192. It is perhaps ten minutes away from Animal Kingdom. Stay away from the Golden Correls And the Sizzler. If you head west on Rt 192 and go past Wild Side BBQ, there is an Outback on the left and more restaurants the further you go.