PS´s, Restaurants, and Which Ones To choose !

[Beejayjay]

OK, having just made my first hotel reservation thru Dreams Unlimited Travel, I´ve received an Email from them telling me that I am now eligible to book PS reservations thru them as a free customer benefit - excellent !

However, this now opens up that Pandora´s box of a question that is - Which restaurants are truly worthy of our custom ??

Aside from burger joints etc, in the parks, the only Disney property restaurant I´m sure I´ve eaten at before is Fultons Crab House in DTD, which was very nice if a little pricey as I recall.

So, I´m throwing myself at the merciful feet of all you wonderful DIS´ers, and asking for suggestions for Disney Restaurants, and other eateries in Disneyville that are worthy of making a PS booking for. One place I have heard of that intrigues is Beaches & Cream, another is Ohana´s... you get my gist ( I hope ! )

I´m sorry, I know its probably an old subject for you´s, but I´m kind of out of the loop (not been to WDW in almost 2 years) with whats available especially on property, and would really appreciate any suggestions. We´re in town 22 days so we have plenty of time to sample them !

Thanks in advance !

 

[kdibattista]

http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/menus.html

http://www.wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[Beejayjay]

Thanks, yes, that does help a lot.

However, I was hoping to get some personal views on some places - I find those more helpful than seeing a menu etc.

Any help would be appreciated folks !

 

[Uncleromulus]

Putting my reply in context--I like sit-down, table service places, and I prefer the Resort dining spots to those in the theme parks.
That said, here are a few of my favorites:
California Grill
Jikos
Narcoosee and/or Citrico's at the Grand Floridian
Flying Fish
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Brown Derby at MGM is my favorite theme park restaurant

In DD area I like Portobello Yacht Club

For lighter fare I like House of Blues in DD and Big River grille on the Boardwalk. They have an excellent wheat beer, by the way.

Lounge-wise the Crew's Cup over at the Yacht Club is my favorite--especially if you like beer..
Hope this helps--

 

[travelitis]

Just so you're aware, Beaches and Cream is walk-up only and does not accept PS.

I've enjoyed San Angel (lunch), the Biergarten (supper), and Restaurant Marrakesch (sp! - dinner).

Do you have kids, or is this adults only? Our favorite character meal is the Garden Grill.

Have you considered reading the Unofficial Guide? It has reader and author ratings for the restaurants as well as descriptions of each sit-down establishment. I found that coupled with the menus at www.wdwig.com very helpful.

 

[Lorac1127]

I'll give you a rundown of restaurants which we ate at in August. As you may gather, our choices are not always for the food:

Whispering Canyon at WL: My family enjoys this fun spot even if you don't partake in the shennanigans. Food is pretty much bbq style and quite good.

Polynesian Luau at Poly: Same meal here for everyone: Salad and pineapple for appetizer; roast chicken and ribs with rice and steamed veggies and cake for dessert with all the wine/beer/soda you can consume. Again, a fun atmosphere, an entertaining show and so-so food.

Rose & Crown: If you like English food, youve got it made. We always have dinner here for a sit-down, front row seat for IllumiNations. The food is so-so, but the service and seat for the show can't be beat.

San Angel Inn/Mexico: The most beautiful setting for dinner. Mexican cuisine which was good.

Coral Reef: If you want a break from the crowds and heat and want a very relaxing lunch/dinner, this place is great. However, I must say that this menu was the most difficult to select anything from. I think the chef is trying to be just a little too creative...but we managed to find something for everyone. A bit expensive.

Hollywood & Vine: A buffet style dinner. Good selection of food and nicely prepared. We were pleasantly surprised here.

Prime Time 50's: Another fun place with pretty good food for lunch.

That's what comes to mind. If you have any questions, write me.

 

[Beejayjay]

This is good stuff guys, thanks !

Some more would be appreciated !!

 

[new_yawka]

If you have kids 3-8, these are especially good. They are also a fun diversion for adults only.

We love going to character breakfasts, just watch out because they get pricey (for example 14.99-16.99 for adults - is a lot for breakfast - worth it - but expensive). You should get PSs for any character dining!

Our favorites are:

O'Hana (Polynesian)- Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale all in grass skirts...the kids parade around the restaurant with the characters and everyone is greeted with a nice "ALOOOOOHA!". Food is good and served family style (brought to your table in a big skillet, but you can ask for more of whatever you'd like).

1900 Park Fair (Grand Floridian) - Mary Poppins and friends - Buffet style - very good food in nice atmosphere.

Garden Grill (The Land - Epcot) - Farmer Mickey and Minnie - Food is good, served family style. Restaurant turns 360 degrees as you eat and you get to look upon some of the portions of the ride which runs throught the land; and

Donals' Breakfastosaurus (DinoLand - AK) - Buffet style - interesting food (bet you never had "dino hash" ) - one of the nicest and easiest places to meet up with Donald Duck.

As for Dinners -

There are SOOO many!

In DTD, the Rainforest Cafe is fun, my kids (4 1/2 and 1) love it.

The California Grill (at Contemporary) has the best view in WDW (15th floor - "overlooking" the MK)

For Fun atmospheres for teens -

Prime Time 50s Cafe and Sci-Fi at MGM are both great, although Primetime 50s definitely gets the nod...its wonderful fun getting berated for putting your elbows on the table!

Remember 1 thing. You can NEVER eat at even a small % of the restaurants in WDW in 1 vacation. Just pick out a few to get PSs at and then let the rest of the vacation come to you!

Have a GREAT and MAGICAL vacation

 

[Lisa D]

I will let you know some of the retaurants we've enjoyed in the recent past. My problem is, we are looking for some new places to eat for our upcoming trip at Halloween and are running out of ideas!

At MK, we've just done fast food. Columbia Harbor House is my personal favorite. They are air conditioned, have plenty of seating, and very good chicken fingers and fish sticks with fries that come in huge portions.

We've eaten at quite a few places in Epcot since we're DVC members at BWV. Two of our favorites are Teppanyaki in Japan (Think Bennihana's with the chef cooking your meal on the tabletop) and Chefs de France (we both had onion soup, dh had the tuna special and I had filet - yummy! Kids had cheeseburgers that were huge!). We've eaten at Germany twice - I liked it better before it was a buffet but the atmosphere is great. Same with Mexico (San Angel Inn) - great atmosphere but food is a little pricey. I'm planning on hitting Le Cellier (Canada) and Marrakesh (Morocco) on this trip.

We've done the 50's Prime Time and Sci Fi Dine In at MGM. I'd love the try the Brown Derby but not so sure how the kids would like it. My oldest son loves 50's Prime Time. The food is just okay, but the experience is wonderful if you get a CM who is into character and you don't mind playing along. We had Brother Ken, and he and my DH really got into it writing notes about each other on the napkins! The Sci Fi was just OK - neat atmosphere with the drive in thing but not-so-great food.

Have only eaten lunch at AK at Pizzafari. I've seen a lot of negatives about this place but we thought their pizza was good so we've eaten there twice. There is a Rainforest Cafe there - we've eaten at the one in Downtown Disney. It was crowded but we did enjoy the food - huge (be ready to bring some back) portions.

I absolutely love the restaurants on the BoardWalk but I may be prejudiced since it's "our" resort. The Flying Fish is fantastic, and we even brought the kids! Their menu changes VERY frequently since everything is seasonal, so the menu you see posted online may change. I had the potato wrapped snapper (which they seem to always have) and it was awesome! DH is a die-hard sports fan so he loves ESPN - they have your basic sports bar food. Spoodles is where we go when we're sick of french fries and looking for something different. It's been a few years since we ate the Big River Brew Works - we really enjoyed it at that time since DH and I are beer drinkers.

Not sure if you're traveling with kids, but if you are Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary is a must do - we are going there again this trip. We also enjoyed O'hana except that we ate there the night we were flying home and I'm a nervous flier (sure to be even worse this trip) so I couldn't eat much.

Sorry this is so long - but it sounded like you were looking for some details so I thought I'd give some - good luck!

Lisa

 

[dcedwards]

We just love to eat at WDW. So many choices - which can be good and bad. Here are a few of our favorites.

Park Fare 1900 - character meal - buffet -dinner
Characters: Pooh and friends. We really like it here. A variety of selections and we can always find things we like. The bread pudding with vanilla sauce is to "die for" as some would say. Many other good things too. It is a little pricey though around $22 or so per person and $10 fo rkids.

Crystal Palace (but it is closed right now).

Hollywood and Vine - Lunch - Character Meal
This place seems to never be crowded but the food always has been good. Service great. Characters wonderul. It is a buffet. Price is about $16-17 per person. Around $9 for kids. Nothing special in the desserts but I remember my husband liked the root beer pork.

Columbia House in MK. Fast food. Great place to grab a quick bite. It has AC and tables. Can get busy at times.

Liberty Tree Tavern - dinner - character - served family style. Great thanksgiving style dinner. Characters have been pretty good at times and so-so at others. Kids mac and cheese, though, is nothing special. Right out of the package. But the rest of the food is good.

Cape May - Beach Club - dinner buffet. Has a lot of seafood here. My DH loves the clams. I prefer the salad bar. There is a nice selection for adults and kids. They do have meat selections that aren't seafood (good thing for me) and the desserts are great. Drinks are not included in this buffet and you can get crab legs but they are extra.

We also like the food court at PO Riverside. Nice selection.
These are probably our favs but we've eaten at several others. We are going to try AKL this trip and see what is happening at those restaurants, for something new. Hope this helps.