Okay everyone, help me choose where to eat...

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We will be in DL mid October from late on a Monday afternoon, until late on the following Saturday. It is nearly 60 days before I arrive and so I need to think about where I am going to make my PS's. I am happy to fly by the seat of my pants for a few meals and for all snacks but I am a bit of a planner and do like to have most stuff organised so that no time is wasted deciding where to eat.

I would love your recommendations for places to eat, and also must try meals (the monte cristo is a given hehe), also advice on best times and which day would be best to eat at which place.

So this is the meals we need to find places for:-

Monday

Dinner (just somewhere at DD I think, we will only arrive at 5ish) what about ESPN?

Tuesday (is a MM for us)
Breakfast - was thinking room service for speed (staying at DLH)

Lunch - Cafe Orleans??? 11.30am (Monte Cristo, Pomme Frites yum)

Dinner - 5.30pm?? would love some suggestions

Wednesday

Breakfast - Goofy's or Ariels Grotto - not sure what time would be best

Lunch - happy to just get whatever in the park, any recommendations for CS places

Dinner - Blue Bayou??? 5.30-6.00

Thursday (magic morning)

Breakfast - am thinking room service in our room

Lunch - 11.30am Carnation Cafe? (I really want to try that loaded potato soup)

Dinner - 5.30pm - would love some recommendations (what about House of Blues, Rainforest cafe, etc.)

Friday

Breakfast - Goofy's or Ariel's - not sure on times

Lunch - some counter service place maybe?

Dinner - 6pm would love some recommendations

Saturday

Breakfast - maybe Riverbelle Cafe???

Lunch - not sure



Okay everyone, I would just love some help with this. It may be my only trip to DL from Oz (unless DH falls in love with DL) so I need to visit everywhere, taste everything, etc.

Thanks....

[ballarinamom]

You know, Ariel's new menu for lunch/dinner is REALLY good. I would skip it for breakfast and go there for lunch or dinner. Storytellers is really good for lunch or dinner as well with nocharacters. Our 2 favorite restaurants in DTD is Jazz kitchen and ESPN.
Don't forget about White Water Snacks outside of GCH for a good CS
We also prefer Goofy's at dinner over breakfast. !- we are not big breakfast eaters and 2- the prime rib is awesome!
I would also consider Lilo's breakfast since you are at DLH and PPH is right there They have great eggs benenedict and a really good selection on the buffet for breakfast. If you shuffle Ariel's or GK to later, it is a good alternative for breakfast and the al a cart prices are lower than the others

[Kayla's Mom]

Well you already have our favorites listed, which are Cafe Orleans and Carnation Cafe. Other places we like are Pizza Port (chicken fusilli pasta), Rancho Del Zocalo (Hacienda salad) and Wine Country Trattoria at DCA. I would eat at Cafe Orleans and Wine Country for dinners and do any of the others at lunch time. Just my opinion....!

[wvnative]

Our favorite noncharacter breakfast spot is Carnation Cafe. We found Riverbelle to be just o.k.

Carnation is on our list for a lunch or dinner this next trip though as I also want to try that soup. lol We're considering Goofy's for breakfast instead of Carnation this time.

We're tyring some places we've never been on this trip. We've only eaten in one restaurant in DTD, Rainforest Cafe. It's good but we have one of those here in Phoenix so it won't be on our list this time. I believe we plan to try the Jazz Kitchen and Tortilla Joe's this trip as I've heard good things about both and the menus look good. I travel with a picky eater so I must be selective. lol

[Sherry E]

Are you staying onsite or offsite? If you are at the DLH, then a Goofy's breakfast makes the most sense (on a non-MM day, like you have indicated) I think. You can just walk downstairs and into Goofy's.

See, I strongly prefer/suggest the Goofy's Kitchen breakfast over the dinner. First of all, the dinner is more expensive than breakfast so if you ended up not liking it you have spent the most money. Goofy's is my favorite place to eat in DLR, but for breakfast. The wide selection of food is amazing. Fantastic bacon and fruit and mini-muffins, cupcakes, all kinds of things. They open at 7:00 a.m. so you could eat there before entering the park but I suspect that there are probably more characters roaming around a little later in the morning.

Carnation Cafe is good for any meal (even dessert only). River Belle Terrace is counter service, but they have the full-sized Mickey pancakes. I love ESPN Zone - excellent chicken strips/tenders with BBQ sauce! Taste Pilots Grill in DCA is a good little counter service place to grab a BBQ chicken sandwich and some onion rings. I like Storytellers for lunch and dinner (non-character meals). In DTD, I like Rainforest Cafe and Naples as well. Wine Country Trattoria in DCA is great too!

The PCH Grill in PPH - though I have never eaten there - is the place that serves the gigantic "Kitchen Sink" sundae, with 10 scoops of ice cream and brownies or cake, candy bars, cookies, all kinds of toppings and other stuff - in case you all develop a bit of a sweet tooth!

[Quilter007]

I would do Storytellers instead of Blue Bayou. We think the food is better & price is similar. Storytellers has a buffet or a menu. We usually do the buffet because it is just so amazing about $28 for adults. They have a make your own pizza for the kids, which is less expensive than the buffet for the kids. One day we were just exhausted & I'd closed a big deal at work, so we had a bunch of cash in the bank so we felt like splurging. We ordered off the menu -- more expensive than the buffet if you get appetizers & dessert too -- can't remember anything that we got except for the dessert -- chocolate fondue that we all shared -- it was so amazing -- they brought out this huge platter of stuff to dip in chocolate -- fruit, cookies, cakes -- we thought we'd died and gone to chocoholics heaven!!! Anyway if you are going to see the light parade, you might see if you can schedule dinner at Storytellers after that & then call it a night -- have churros & popcorn for early evening snacks or something?

[teatime]

There are plenty of great info on resturants all thru these boards, in fact if you go to this thread you will actually see the foods! we love that thread. and it can help you decide. we can not decide for you. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1253888 read thru this thread and you will find awesome food pics, and how well they tasted etc.

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by ballarinamom

You know, Ariel's new menu for lunch/dinner is REALLY good. I would skip it for breakfast and go there for lunch or dinner. Storytellers is really good for lunch or dinner as well with nocharacters. Our 2 favorite restaurants in DTD is Jazz kitchen and ESPN.
Don't forget about White Water Snacks outside of GCH for a good CS
We also prefer Goofy's at dinner over breakfast. !- we are not big breakfast eaters and 2- the prime rib is awesome!
I would also consider Lilo's breakfast since you are at DLH and PPH is right there They have great eggs benenedict and a really good selection on the buffet for breakfast. If you shuffle Ariel's or GK to later, it is a good alternative for breakfast and the al a cart prices are lower than the others

Actually I was thinking Ariel's might be nice for a lunch or dinner. I will have a look at their menu and see what I think.

A few people have mentioned White Water Snacks so might give that a try.

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by wvnative

Our favorite noncharacter breakfast spot is Carnation Cafe. We found Riverbelle to be just o.k.

Carnation is on our list for a lunch or dinner this next trip though as I also want to try that soup. lol We're considering Goofy's for breakfast instead of Carnation this time.

We're tyring some places we've never been on this trip. We've only eaten in one restaurant in DTD, Rainforest Cafe. It's good but we have one of those here in Phoenix so it won't be on our list this time. I believe we plan to try the Jazz Kitchen and Tortilla Joe's this trip as I've heard good things about both and the menus look good. I travel with a picky eater so I must be selective. lol

Glad to hear Carnation Cafe get a good wrap, will definitely eat there. I am excited about Rainforest Cafe but we may eat there in San Fran or Vegas so we can fit more places in at DL

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

Are you staying onsite or offsite? If you are at the DLH, then a Goofy's breakfast makes the most sense (on a non-MM day, like you have indicated) I think. You can just walk downstairs and into Goofy's.

See, I strongly prefer/suggest the Goofy's Kitchen breakfast over the dinner. First of all, the dinner is more expensive than breakfast so if you ended up not liking it you have spent the most money. Goofy's is my favorite place to eat in DLR, but for breakfast. The wide selection of food is amazing. Fantastic bacon and fruit and mini-muffins, cupcakes, all kinds of things. They open at 7:00 a.m. so you could eat there before entering the park but I suspect that there are probably more characters roaming around a little later in the morning.

Carnation Cafe is good for any meal (even dessert only). River Belle Terrace is counter service, but they have the full-sized Mickey pancakes. I love ESPN Zone - excellent chicken strips/tenders with BBQ sauce! Taste Pilots Grill in DCA is a good little counter service place to grab a BBQ chicken sandwich and some onion rings. I like Storytellers for lunch and dinner (non-character meals). In DTD, I like Rainforest Cafe and Naples as well. Wine Country Trattoria in DCA is great too!

The PCH Grill in PPH - though I have never eaten there - is the place that serves the gigantic "Kitchen Sink" sundae, with 10 scoops of ice cream and brownies or cake, candy bars, cookies, all kinds of toppings and other stuff - in case you all develop a bit of a sweet tooth!

Sherry we are doing Goofy's at breakfast based purely on all of your reviews that I have stumbled across over and over. I feel for someone to be so passionate about a place, esp for breakfast, well you're my kinda girl and it must be my kinda place, hahaha

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by Quilter007

I would do Storytellers instead of Blue Bayou. We think the food is better & price is similar. Storytellers has a buffet or a menu. We usually do the buffet because it is just so amazing about $28 for adults. They have a make your own pizza for the kids, which is less expensive than the buffet for the kids. One day we were just exhausted & I'd closed a big deal at work, so we had a bunch of cash in the bank so we felt like splurging. We ordered off the menu -- more expensive than the buffet if you get appetizers & dessert too -- can't remember anything that we got except for the dessert -- chocolate fondue that we all shared -- it was so amazing -- they brought out this huge platter of stuff to dip in chocolate -- fruit, cookies, cakes -- we thought we'd died and gone to chocoholics heaven!!! Anyway if you are going to see the light parade, you might see if you can schedule dinner at Storytellers after that & then call it a night -- have churros & popcorn for early evening snacks or something?

I think we have to do Blue Bayou, I think it needs to be tried at least once from what I've read, so it's a must do somewhere on this trip.

Can't wait to have some churros too.

[fairycat]

If you aren't into huge breakfasts and want to eat simple and easy some days, don't forget Jamba Juice at DTD. They have smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt and other simple good options that might save you some money and time over a room service breakfast.

[3Minnies1Mickey]

The first thing that stuck out is that the parks don't typically open until 10 M-Th in October. That may affect deciding when and where you eat.

[Albort]

screw the restaurant and get a turkey Leg... :D

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by Ms. Shuttergirl

Sherry we are doing Goofy's at breakfast based purely on all of your reviews that I have stumbled across over and over. I feel for someone to be so passionate about a place, esp for breakfast, well you're my kinda girl and it must be my kinda place, hahaha

Good! I lured another one into my evil web! Muahahahahahahaha!!! No, seriously, I think you will really enjoy it. Yes, there are some DIS-ers here and there who don't have a great experience at Goofy's or they feel it is not worth it to them at the end of the day, but it seems like more often than not, people who go there really enjoy it. The last few DIS-ers that I (knowingly) turned on to GK ended up really liking it a lot. Maybe there are others out there who went that I don't know of, but the ones I know of liked it. Of course, I will tell you the same thing I told them before they went - whether or not you enjoy Goofy's Kitchen, I want to hear the review, good or bad, when you get back, but if it is reallllly bad, make sure to give me a warning and let me know if I need to put on my protective headgear and body armor and go ducking under a table somewhere!!

I guess I am more of a breakfast person than a dinner person, so the dinner offerings at GK did not appeal to me as much when I had them long ago. I may have to revisit the dinner at some point just to try it again (during off-peak season, when it is cheaper, and when I have not eaten anything all day and have an empty stomach!!). Other folks, however, really liked the dinner. But I think you have enough other choices for dinners at DLR that you can probably get away with just doing the GK breakfast.

I agree about Blue Bayou - because it is such a unique restaurant, and exclusive to DLR, it is a must-try for everyone at least once.

Also, Bengal BBQ is a good place for chicken, veggie or beef skewers and light meals if you are hungry, but not that hungry, during the day.