Counter service meals at Resorts and Parks

[karasue10]

We are planning our 6th trip to DW for the end of August. I'm really trying to scope out good options for dining. We like the ease and speed of just grabbing something where we are when we get hungry. We don't like being ruled by dining reservations.

That being said, we get very tired of the chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers at every turn. I loved the taco salad at Pecos Bill's and now that it's gone, I'm sad. We stayed at PO Riverside a few years ago and I loved the roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, but that doesn't seem to be an option everywhere. Sometimes looking at the menu online doesn't fully explain everything that the resort food courts have.

We weren't happy at Coronado last time because they didn't even have ice cream only gelato that we don't like.

This time we are trying to decide between staying at Art of Animation or All Star Sports or Caribbean Beach. The decision ways heavily on food choices at the resort and the buses to the parks (we hate the buses where you have 4 or 5 stops within the resort). I would love to hear input and info about these 3 resorts. We've stayed at AS Movies and suspect AS Sports will be about the same. We always stay at a different resort each time.

 

[MJ6987]

Could you edit this and split into paragraphs? I'm struggling to make sense of it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Your best bet is to check out the menus either on the Disney website (when you check out dining) or AllEars.net has a good dining section with menus. I think the DIS also has a menu section. Check the menus and make your decisions there. Some will even have photos of the food.

 

[karasue10]

Could you edit this and split into paragraphs? I'm struggling to make sense of it.

I suppose I did kind of ramble on, but there was punctuation so I figured most people could get the gist of what I was saying.

 

[MJ6987]

I suppose I did kind of ramble on, but there was punctuation so I figured most people could get the gist of what I was saying.

Yeah, probably just me!

 

[karasue10]

Your best bet is to check out the menus either on the Disney website (when you check out dining) or AllEars.net has a good dining section with menus. I think the DIS also has a menu section. Check the menus and make your decisions there. Some will even have photos of the food.

There are options that aren't necessarily on those menus, but are available at the resort. Can anyone tell me which resorts offer the carved turkey and mashed potatoes? Also is taco salad on the menu anywhere anymore?

 

[MJ6987]

Ah, I've got you now. I would definitely go for Art of Animation - not been there myself but it looks great and I've heard very good things about the food court.

French Quarter may be another option - another nice (but smaller) food court with some interesting options, plus you can easily walk to POR as well.

 

[Deb & Bill]

There are options that aren't necessarily on those menus, but are available at the resort. Can anyone tell me which resorts offer the carved turkey and mashed potatoes? Also is taco salad on the menu anywhere anymore?

They did have taco salad at lunch at one of the All Stars, but I think that is even gone. No more taco salad anywhere on the property.

 

[megf06]

We stayed at AOA in November 2014 and loved the food court. They had a lot of different options. I am not sure about carved turkey or taco salad, but the food was great.

We also had no bus issues. AOA doesn't share buses, so wait times were minimal and travel was quick.

 

[karasue10]

We stayed at AOA in November 2014 and loved the food court. They had a lot of different options. I am not sure about carved turkey or taco salad, but the food was great.

We also had no bus issues. AOA doesn't share buses, so wait times were minimal and travel was quick.

That's why we are leaning toward AOA rather than CB or POFQ. My DH gets motion sick from the buses and fewer stops is definitely a bonus.

 

[karasue10]

They did have taco salad at lunch at one of the All Stars, but I think that is even gone. No more taco salad anywhere on the property.

Nooooooo!

 

[loves to dive]

If you have stayed at one All Stars you know what they are all like, just different theming. They do all three share pools and food courts so you could hop between them. If bus stops are an issue, CBR is going to be a no go, it has a number of bus stops. Every once in a while the All Stars share a bus but only during slow periods. Personally, I wouldn't spend the price for AoA that they charge for a value resort. If the budget allows for that, I'd go for one of the moderates, the only one with only one bus stop is POFQ, but you could just grab the bus at the last stop at POR and not have to ride around all the stops. Also, you might consider Swan/Dolphin, if you shop you can get a room there for the price of a moderate and they have two bus stops but you you can walk to the last stop (I think it's Dolphin) very easy. You have the boat to Epcot/HS and both are within walking distance. As far as the food, I think you can get turkey at one of the restaurants at MK and I could swear I saw it at ASSp in the food court last year. You don't have to eat hamburger and chicken nuggets at QS, there are many many many options at Epcot and AK for different things. It's pretty easy to hop the monorail from MK and go to any one of the three monorail resorts all and check out their options and a boat to WL will give you some options. From Epcot you can walk over to BW for a few options.

 

[disneyfan007]

We just got home on Friday after staying at All Star Sports. They did offer turkey during the dinner hours. It was not bad at all. There was also a salad available at the same station, but I cannot speak for that since I did not have it. (It was not a taco salad) As far as the parks go, we were really pleased with Columbia House at MK. We will most certainly go back there.

If you are considering the Star's hotels, All Star Sports is the first stop for the bus routes. It is first one loaded, first one off which is nice. We did not have to share to often going to the different parks.

 

[Hopefully]

There are options that aren't necessarily on those menus, but are available at the resort. Can anyone tell me which resorts offer the carved turkey and mashed potatoes? Also is taco salad on the menu anywhere anymore?

Why do you think that? I have found that the menus on the WDW site pretty accurate, with the caveat that menus do periodically change. Josh at easywdw also has lots of reviews that include actual menu board pictures. Check that out as well