Does anyone avoid Buffets?

[Peter Fan]

Originally Posted by bcrook

We are officially finished with buffets. Mainly because of cost! $200.00+ for a family of four for dinner, that is simply too much. But we are grossed out by cleanliness too.

The only one I would go back to now would be boma for breakfast only. Go early, everything would still be clean. It is peaceful. Great coffee. Plus we stay at AKV a lot. That being said, in our last ten trips, I have only been there once.

Last year at the Wave, some of our party ordered off the menu to avoid the buffet, but the server got the food from buffet anyway!!! That was disturbing.

My dd just reminded me of our awful experience at the garden grove seafood buffet last year. That was probably the tipping point. We are done with them all.

If it wasn't for the free dining we wouldn't do them either.

[Peter Fan]

While we are talking about germs I' m surprised that they use unwrapped plastic utensils at CS places. All those hands touching them!

[Peter Fan]

While we are talking about germs I am surprised they use unwrapped plastic utensils at CS places. All those hands touching them!

[Peter Fan]

Oops!

[DanInMN]

As stated previously, germs are everywhere. Regarding heat lamps... table service gets your food from the same setup, it's just hidden from your view. In high school I worked in a sit down restaurant, enough said.

We enjoy the buffets... see the food before selecting it, get whatever you want, as much (or little) as you want, go for seconds on the good stuff. We have reservations at Germany and Crystal Palace in January!

[figment814]

I am not a big fan of buffets, but it has nothing to do with the germ factor.

I don't think anything at a buffet is any germier than the door handle/plate on the bathroom door or a lap bar on a ride.

[Peter Fan]

Originally Posted by DanInMN

As stated previously, germs are everywhere. Regarding heat lamps... table service gets your food from the same setup, it's just hidden from your view. In high school I worked in a sit down restaurant, enough said.

We enjoy the buffets... see the food before selecting it, get whatever you want, as much (or little) as you want, go for seconds on the good stuff. We have reservations at Germany and Crystal Palace in January!

I agree. There is more going on behind the scenes that you don't want to know about!

[eliza61]

like the plague. LOL. but there are many reasons not just the sanitary issues.

1) for some reason the food is always "lukewarm" at best. Unless it's one of those made to order stations, like for omlets or waffles. I hate lukewarm food.

2) I just hate the "out of control" atmosphere. We went to crystal palace one time and children were literally running around following the characters and yelling at the top of their lungs. Now yes I know it's disney and I expect children but I also expect parents to be well, parents. Unless it's chuckie cheese I just don't think running from station to station is the way to go. Buffets always seem overly loud and crazy.

3) food is "meh" at best. I do want to try Tusker house though, I've heard great things about that.
4) lastly, the price. really disney 50+ bucks for buffet food. I went to Ruth Chris's steakhouse and had a prefixe excellent meal for around that price. 45 bucks for crystal Palace? never gonna happen again.

We did like trails end buffet but it's been many years since we ate there. Has anyone been there lately?

[Chuck S]

In general I don't care for buffets. I'd rather sit down and have a server. The exception was Restaurant Akershus. I used to enjoy the variety of Norwegian foods, but I no longer dine there now that it is always a Character meal.

I avoid Character meals, too, when possible. I know soon I'll have to go to one with my best friends little girl on her first Disney trip...she's 5. At 5, you have to do at least one Character meal. I'm hoping to do Akershus.

[Herfnerd]

Originally Posted by Peter Fan

I agree. There is more going on behind the scenes that you don't want to know about!

Ditto. And heat lamps are not the only method of keeping food warm - hot water baths are popular, too

Originally Posted by figment814

I am not a big fan of buffets, but it has nothing to do with the germ factor.

I don't think anything at a buffet is any germier than the door handle/plate on the bathroom door or a lap bar on a ride.

THIS!!

And......the germiest items found anywhere on vacation are the TV remotes and telephones. You are more likely to get sick from touching them and then rubbing your eyes or touching your face than from a buffet.

We bring Clorox/Lysol wipes when we go on vacation and wipe them down - lots of cruise vacations and Noro tought us that. I always use a paper towel to open the rest room door on the way out - doesn't make sense to wash your hands after doing your duty when the people before you don't....

[3pletprincesses]

We don't avoid them since we have 4 kids and most charaacter mealsare buffets and they are a must in our house. So far no one has been sick. Like someone else mentionned, afte touching all the doors and so on, germs can come from anywhere. the only place I refuse to eat again is Chef Mickey. The food temp was not right. Everything was luke warm at best.

[North of Mouse]

Originally Posted by eliza61

like the plague. LOL. but there are many reasons not just the sanitary issues.

1) for some reason the food is always "lukewarm" at best. Unless it's one of those made to order stations, like for omlets or waffles. I hate lukewarm food.

2) I just hate the "out of control" atmosphere. We went to crystal palace one time and children were literally running around following the characters and yelling at the top of their lungs. Now yes I know it's disney and I expect children but I also expect parents to be well, parents. Unless it's chuckie cheese I just don't think running from station to station is the way to go. Buffets always seem overly loud and crazy.

3) food is "meh" at best. I do want to try Tusker house though, I've heard great things about that.
4) lastly, the price. really disney 50+ bucks for buffet food. I went to Ruth Chris's steakhouse and had a prefixe excellent meal for around that price. 45 bucks for crystal Palace? never gonna happen again.

We did like trails end buffet but it's been many years since we ate there. Has anyone been there lately?

Just ate at CP a week ago. Our breakfast was $22.99, and was hot and delicious, also no children were running around noisy while we were there.

The dinner was $35.99, not $50+. Have never ever paid more than this for the dinners. Maybe they are on major holidays - don't know, never desire to be there at those times.

Also, we just ate the dinner buffet at Trails End. It was one of our least expensive meals, and also one of our best ones. The smoked brisket and ribs were outstanding.

[ElizabethB]

Absolutely -- we avoid buffets. But, only in part due to sanitary issues. With respect to the OP's child, WDW seemed to have a lot of norovirus going around lately and that could well have been what it was.

Norovirus outbreaks happen on cruise ships and anywhere there are alot of people. There is something of an elevated risk at buffets due to so many people touching the serving utensils. The first thing the cruise ships do when norovirus strikes is suspend self-service at the buffets and instead have employees with clean hands serving the food with no passengers touching the utensils. They also have employees stand at the dining room entrance and no one gets in without using hand sanitizer.

Beyond the norovirus germs, we agree with everything eliza61 said. We dislike buffets because we like to sit down and be served, we don't like warmed over food sitting under heating lamps, we find the food quality generally poor at buffets and we don't like all the disorganization with kids running around and general noise and mayhem.

We would much prefer a sit-down dinner with higher quality food, a nice bottle of wine and a quiet refined atmosphere. Of course, this is getting harder and harder to find at WDW these days.

[Peter Fan]

Originally Posted by North of Mouse

Just ate at CP a week ago. Our breakfast was $22.99, and was hot and delicious, also no children were running around noisy while we were there.

The dinner was $35.99, not $50+. Have never ever paid more than this for the dinners. Maybe they are on major holidays - don't know, never desire to be there at those times.

Also, we just ate the dinner buffet at Trails End. It was one of our least expensive meals, and also one of our best ones. The smoked brisket and ribs were outstanding.

We ate at CM the week before thanksgiving. For the 4 of us the bill came to 220. with tip. Thank goodness we were on free dining plan! I would never go back there and pay oop, not worth it.

[North of Mouse]

Originally Posted by Peter Fan

We ate at CM the week before thanksgiving. For the 4 of us the bill came to 220. with tip. Thank goodness we were on free dining plan! I would never go back there and pay oop, not worth it.

What was your price per person? We were there the Mon. after Thanksgiving and paid $35.99 per person, but our best tips would never equal that much difference. I have our receipt right here - always keep them til we get home just to see how much we spent on food. We always do better without the dining plan, no matter what we eat.