WDW dining plan - your thoughts

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I'm wondering what the aussies who have been to WDW and used the dining plan thought of it.

We are total foodies, but more savoury than sweet types. We love appetisers and mains, but desserts not as much. Don't get me wrong, I like a dessert, but if given a choice would always go a starter instead.

We also LOVE LOVE LOVE character meals.

So essentially I'm not sure whether the dining plan would be for us or not. I'm thinking maybe we could do better just paying as we go.

Is the dining plan a cheaper way to go?

 

[PrincessInOz]

May 2010 will be my first time on a dining plan. And because I'm doing a split stay, I've got a Quick Service DP for the first 5 days and then doing OOP for the next 5. Should make for an interesting comparison when I get back

Check out the menus at allears (and don't forget to factor in drinks and snacks):

http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

I used it to get a gauge on how much I could potentially be out of pocket for per person per day; and then compared it to the dining plan prices.
For my family, table service 3 course meals once or twice a day does not suit our style of eating or touring. You'd need to work out if this works for your family.
We chose the QS because we like to pick things up when we feel like it ...and not be locked into an ADR months in advance.

We are doing 2 character breakfasts and 1 Signature restaurant; which we will pay OOP for. Any more than this, we would be better off on the basic Dining Plan.

 

[Sugarglider]

go to www.allears.net and you can see all the menus and all the prices.
I did the dining plan last year but I had to eat a lot of food to make it worthwhile. And I had a bunch of snack credits to use up at the end
This year we are not going to do it. Disney have increased the price (and introduced a higher price for summer - last $39.95/day this yr $42.95 or $46.95 )
So going through all the menus at the current prices you realise how much you have to eat to break even - eating the most expensive dishes at the most expensive restaurants. Anyway I worked out that I would break even so I decided not to do it. Then I could eat a bit less and save money and my waistline!

OK - have to take back everything that I wrote - we are now doing Deluxe on this trip. Once I made all our bookings for character meals and the better table service, did the maths on the menu costs from all ears.net, realised that I would save about $100/hd by having the plan. We don't do counter service but having all the points on table service made it worthwhile. Even if we don't eat 3 course dinners every day they are restaurants I wanted to visit anyway, and we can miss a few courses and at least break even. Not sure we'll use the mugs cause we don't drink soft drinks, and we thought we would order the salad appetizers so that we didn't have to order and pay extra for the vege side dishes. Ordinary dining plan would still be a waste for me - not enough table service points

 

[Kalice]

We LOVED the dining plan. We used two credits for hoop-de-doo review. We also dined at Mama Melrose for the Fantasmic package, Le Cellier twice, SciFi, the steak house at the Yachtsman. We went to Cinderellas Royal Table for breakfast, but paid out of pocket for this as it worked best out for us. We had some great counter meals, particularly two dinners and Wolfgang Puck Express market place, the food here was great, similar to a cheaper sit down place in Perth. We also had a good counter meal at Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, and one in one of Asian Epcot countries. The kids loved the pizza place in Hollywood Studios, can't really remember all the others but they were pretty much burgers and the like, there was always a healthier option available. We took our desserts to go a few times. We used snack credits at Starring Rolls (YUM) and the odd icecream. We used all the leftover credits to buy take home treats, such as Disney Pez dispensers, Minnies bake house cookies, Disney chocolate coins. I'm a bit of a coffee addict, the places that sold proper coffee (espresso, etc.) would not accept the dining plan. As others have said check out the Allears menus and work out if it is worth it for your familly.

 

[Willow25]

We have used the dining plan on a few occasions and back when appetisers were included. If you do a lot of buffets/character meals then I am not sure if it is worth it especially since you have to tip out of pocket. We always check out the menus on allears and price it out to see if it is a savings. While you are not big on desserts we often got them packaged up for us and took them back to our room. Sometimes dessert became our breakfast. The other aspect of the dining plan that I loved was prepaying for it!! It was so nice to pay for it when the dollar was good and then not having to worry about what you ordered from the menus. It also provided us with the opportunity to eat at different places and to try out restaurants we might not have if we were paying out of pocket.

 

[queenie82]

I love the Dining plan and thought it was great but it depends a bit on what you like to eat and restaurants you like.

We did a split stay trying the deluxe and regular.
Deluxe Dining Plan
I agree with most people that the deluxe is too much food but it was useful in getting to try the “whole” experience at the ala carte restaurants, and getting to try lots over a fairly short period of time. We went to Epcot and Resort restauants as well as Planet Hollywood and Yak and Yeti.
You also get the resort mug which is GREAT!! Loved that. But some resorts are better with it than others. About the easiest we found was with Mara at AKL because it is open long hours and has a huge range including hot chocolate. Boardwalk by comparison was a pain in the backside with limited choices at a limited number of places with limited hours of operation.

Overall it is good but one of the “benefits” is getting the appetiser included as well, which I found redundant as the appertiser options I found pretty pathetic with nothing I would rush back for. I actually didn’t find anything appetising at The Wave and it took much discussion before it was decided we could have Fruit salad (a kids meal option). The only ones I really enjoyed were at Planet Hollywood, Tutto Italia and Yak and Yeti. But they were nothing special.
In terms of value I thought it reasonable if you can eat that much food over that period of time and have the time to go to the more expensive table service restaurants. But I don’t include the appetiser as a selling point.
For Snacks we got a number of our snacks as Gingerbread shingles from the Beach Club resort because they are a good value option that doesn’t need to be eaten right away. Also the odd Dole Whip as well as some fruit bowls from sunshine seasons and Caribbean beach. It wasn’t easy to get things to eat right away as there is plenty of food without it…lol…

If you want to try some of the 2 Credit places then that will reduce the amount of food in total, but I don't think any of the 2 credit places worth it.

Regular Dining Plan
I found this a good balance of food, You get your sit down meals, a counter meal wherever and a snack during the day. We would sometimes do buffet breakfast, late lunch and snack for dinner. Stuff like that. If we were only on this plan I would still buy the resort mug as it really is great for mornings and night! Savings in drinks is great. Although we did buy a slab of water from the supermarket as well.

The regular plan is obviously best value if you are dining at the more expensive restaurants however is great. Tutto Italia, Le Chefs de france, The Wave, 1900 Park fare, all great and more expensive options than others.
Biergarten however isn't very expensive although the food is WONDERFUL has a great show.

I think what we will most likely do next time though (assuming Disney doesn’t change everything by then) is some regular and some quick service. I would do enough regular to go to my fav restaurants and then the rest the quick service as you also get snacks and a resort mug so you get everything you need.

I found such WONDERFUL quick service restaurants I would love to go back to. Some of which will give you as much food as a Table Service restaurant. For example Sunshine Seasons. I could get Pork Chop and veggies, a Vitamin Water or other nice beverage, and Strawberry Shortcake dessert. And of course the ribs around the place was good too!
Also
- Mara at Animal Kingdom Jambo House. I really liked this place as it was convenient (when staying at AKL). There were great snacks - zebra domes anyone - and the counterservice food wasn't really african so really nice.
- Caribbean beach. LOVED this place. Burgers are great. The grill has great options as well but was always closed by the time we got there. And the drinks, you can get frozen/smoothie type things included.
- Flame Tree BBQ...nuff said
- Fairfax fare at DHS lunch was really great I thought. Ribs and Beef Brisket was delicious. It isn't great value if you are paying but it is GREAT on the dining plan. We sometimes mixed and matched because dad doesn't like chicken on the bone so we would get ribs and brisket and chicken and brisket and give him all the brisket and someone would have the ribs and the other the chicken
- Cosmic Rays was fun.
- Columbia Harbour House was nice.

Regarding snacks generally...people always whinge they have snacks left over blah blah so they don't get good value from them...
But as I mentioned above if you go at Christmas time you can load up on Gingerbread shingles from the Beach club which 1 - taste great 2 - don't need to be eaten immediately and 3 - would be a GREAT gift to anyone!!

We also LOVE LOVE LOVE Character Meals...they are SO much fun.
My ratings are
1 - 1900 Park Fare breakfast. I'm not a princess or face character person generally...but this is GREAT. It is the best quality buffet food out of all the buffets.
Breakfast you get the Mad Hatter, Alice, Mary Poppins, Tigger and Pooh. The Characters are very much in character.
Dinner is also good...but more 'princessy' as you get Lady Tremaine, The ugly step sisters, Cinderella and Prince Charming.

The food is DIVINE The custom omelettes are wonderful.
Strawberry Soup is addictive.
For the Dinner if you want well done beef just let the chef know and they will go cook it for you.

2 - Cape May
Breakfast and Dinner are great. It is so relaxed and while the food isn't as good as 1900 the atmosphere is perfect and the food is still very good.
It usually isn't as busy also so there really is quality time character interaction rather than the rushed production line.

3 - Crystal Palace
We tried Dinner buffet this time and was nice enough and good for getting Characters (pooh tigger piglet eeyore)
I think the breakfast is a better way of seeing the characters here.
A gripe we had at a couple of buffets (here and Boma) is we had very odd servers who wanted to "explain" the buffet and spend 10mins talking instead of just letting us go and explore. We shut them down both times...ordered our drinks...and got up to get food. I mean seriously...is it so hard to work out a buffet?

4 - Chef Mickey's
Breakfast is average food as is Dinner.
But you go here for the Characters.
I was quite happy with the Dinner food as it was more edible (to me) than Boma but it isn't going to please people who like more "interesting" food.
Donald is adorable.

5 - Tusker house
You go here for the Characters at Breakfast. The food is pretty good. Donald doesn't come into the Restaurant. You have to do the meet and great before going in. It unnecessarily creates a queue. Plus they had a character "break" 10 mins after him coming out Thankfully we convinced them to let us do a quick photo before he left for a break so we could go into the restaurant.

6 - Ohana
Ok only...
The breakfast was fun with Stitch and if you WANT Stitch it is the best way to get him. The service was however very ho hum. Family Style is fine but it relies on a good server who sees what you really liked and what you didn't as much and adjust accordingly. But there was no stand out. It was pretty much standard breakfast fare...and not a good version. The pineapple bread wasn't brilliant.

 

[Sugarglider]

2 - Cape May
Breakfast and Dinner are great. It is so relaxed and while the food isn't as good as 1900 the atmosphere is perfect and the food is still very good.
It usually isn't as busy also so there really is quality time character interaction rather than the rushed production line.

4 - Chef Mickey's
Breakfast is average food as is Dinner.
But you go here for the Characters.
I was quite happy with the Dinner food as it was more edible (to me) than Boma but it isn't going to please people who like more "interesting" food.
Donald is adorable.

5 - Tusker house
You go here for the Characters at Breakfast. The food is pretty good. Donald doesn't come into the Restaurant. You have to do the meet and great before going in. It unnecessarily creates a queue. Plus they had a character "break" 10 mins after him coming out Thankfully we convinced them to let us do a quick photo before he left for a break so we could go into the restaurant.

thanks for this advice re: Donald - he is one of our Faves and I didn't realise that at Tusker House he doesn't roam - this isn't mentioned on the website and the photo has him at the tables. At Chef Mickey and Cape May he does come to every table for photos. I thought Cape May food offerings were the average fare - Crystal Palace had a few more options - but the opportunity to meet Donald is what dragged me in!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Thanks for the suggested to spend some time on Allears researching approx. how much we would spend versus the DP. That is a great idea and I love reading menus so it should be fun .

Queenie - lots of great information here. Thanks for taking the time to write it all down. So many of those places sound great. I will really enjoy trawling through each menu and deciding where we want to eat, then working out rough costs to see which way to go.

I'm thinking we would be better to just pay as we go, but will definitely research it alot first.

 

[queenie82]

Thanks for the suggested to spend some time on Allears researching approx. how much we would spend versus the DP. That is a great idea and I love reading menus so it should be fun .

Queenie - lots of great information here. Thanks for taking the time to write it all down. So many of those places sound great. I will really enjoy trawling through each menu and deciding where we want to eat, then working out rough costs to see which way to go.

I'm thinking we would be better to just pay as we go, but will definitely research it alot first.

I'm glad it was of some assistance. I had written some of it up a few months ago but added some more useful information.

Dining has always been a dilemma for me as I'm pretty stingy food wise so this was the first time we really properly dined at Disney. We used to always have supermarket food with some Dennys etc. thrown in for convenience. But this was getting tiring, especially given how repulsive most American bread is for sandwich making.
We had only done Crystal Palace Breakfast, Cape May Breakfast and Chef Mickey Breakfast on previous trips OOP but with our first trip staying onsite we took up the opportunity to try the dining plan for the fully immersive experience.

Especially with the seasonal surcharge the Dining Plan is becoming a more complicated thing with a proper look at where you want to eat required to know if it is worthwhile. It may well not be for you.

From memory your kids aren't both under 10? So certainly if you are all adults it does need consideration and calculations.

Even if you are paying OOP the Character Breakfast can be really fun so I would definitely try them. And having a look at the menu's for ANY restaurant is a good idea so you go in prepared. The menus can change and not everything will be quite what you expect (for the better or not)
We cancelled Nine Dragons as I decided the things on the menu we liked weren't very expensive so not good value. The more unusual things which cost more were just not our thing.
We went to Tutto Italia again instead which is WONDERFUL


Sugar Glider...yes I was surprised about Donald not being IN Tusker House and it was disappointing. It is a production line meet and greet.
I've become a real Donald fan *** he is sooo cute and always has great interaction.
In regard to Cape May - no the food isn't terribly exciting but it is better than Ohana. Plus as I say...the experience for us has always been great with the Characters...and the outfits are SOOOO cute...and again Donald is so much fun.
I was trying to take some photos of the restaurant and Donald nearly walked into the shot but spotted me and went tada!!!

The other character one which I (surprisingly) really liked was the Garden Grill Dinner in the The Land at Epcot. It is Chip and Dale with Farmer Mickey and Pluto. [Poor pluto never gets clothes!!!!] Chip and Dale were hilarious!
But although it was good I wouldn't put it at the top of my list...

Finally - with just non character restaurants generally my top picks are
Biergarten [the germans know how t make great food and put on a show]
Tutto Italia
Chefs de France
And if you want to see Illuminations
Rose and Crown.

Have fun researching!!!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

You are right Queenie, my beautiful daughter would be 13 when we go and son would be 9. Son is a total nuggets and chips twice a day dude, daughter far more adventurous but happy to go nuggets and chips too if the food is too crazy for her. I did a bit more research today of menus of places I think we may want to eat (I definitely need to spend more time researching the restaurants though) and and I am getting the sense that we may well be better to pay OOP, or maybe even the Counter service plan would be okay. We would definitely only want one sit down meal per day, the other two would be counter service. We can eat breakfast on the run, however we do like to fill our tums well in the morning to give us energy for the day, so probably a warm counter service breakky rather than a muffin on the run for our family.

And I totally agree, we will definitely have character meals. We did 2 at Disneyland and I am thinking we need to do at least 3 at WDW. I think I have to do Cinderalla's table, just because I soooo want to eat in the castle (how old am I, hehe). The Crystal Palace reviews are usually really good and DH and kids are total Pooh fans. DD would die to see Mary Poppins but I so would want to see Donald and Minnie so who knows how it would pan out once we really research it LOL. Queenie your reviews have been helpful.

We probably wouldn't do any of the fancy fancy restaurants like Cali Grill, mainly because it just seems like much more of a grown ups kind of experience than a family one and whilst we adore fine food, we also want to enjoy a meal and not be stressed that the kids can find food they like etc. The BBQ family style stuff sounds like fun too.

Has anyone been to Hoop De Doo? Would love to hear what that was like.

 

[aussietravellers]

We've done the dining plan before and loved it. But we did still have to buy OOP at least one TS meal day. We ate at a few signatures so that took up two TS credits and also at least two TS a day so we really didn't have enought TS credits. We are also kind of addicted to character meals We did most of them on our last trip (missed the princess meals) and did them all more than once and will be doing that again this trip but will be adding a meal at CRT this time, much to my sons horror

If I was to do it again it would be the deluxe plan. With the regular DDP and the dessert, I really didn't get to eat much dessert because of peanut and nut allergy so again the DxDDP would suit better so I can have an appertizer if I wanted and the fact that we eat at least 2TS a day and a few signatures.

This upcoming trip we are there for 21 nights and I have not booked the dining plan and the reason is that my son will be 11 years old and will still want to order off the childrens menu sometimes and so paying the $79 a day for him just seems ridiculous when the average childs full meals is $7.99 to $12.99. Paying OOP the only time I will have to pay adult price is at buffets (or shows/family style dining). I really LOVE the idea of having the meals prepaid and the dining plan but for this next trip it is not going to work for us. So we are going with OOP.

As we are there for a while we are also getting AP's (cheaper than 21 days in tickets) so we will also get a Tables in Wonderland card which gives 20% off at most TS restaurants. So this trip it will work out much cheaper for us, mainly eating at TS restaurants to go with TIW over the DDP.

Happy to give reviews of any of the restaurants if somebody wants them. Would just take forever and pages if I went through them all So TS we went to, many we went to multiple times.....
Boma (breakfast about 11 times, dinner once)
Jiko (three times, SO GOOD)
Donald's Safari at Tusker House
Yak & Yeti (REALLY GOOD)
Cyrstal Palace (breakfast and lunch)
Tony's
The Plaza
50's Prime Time
Hollywood & Vine (NEVER AGAIN)
Brown Derby
Mama Melrose (Fantasmic package)
Sci-Fi
Beaches & Cream
Cape May's
Yachtmans Steak House
Captain's Grill
Beirgarten
Garden Grill
Chef's de France
Le Cellier
Ohana's breakfast (lilo and stitch)
Kona Cafe breakfast
1900 Park Fare (breakfast and dinner)
Chef Mickeys (breakfast and dinner)
Rainforest Cafe (AK and DTD)

I think that's it. Oh and the best CS we ate at was Mara at AKL, it was so good! mmmm can't wait to go back.

 

[aussietravellers]

thanks for this advice re: Donald - he is one of our Faves and I didn't realise that at Tusker House he doesn't roam - this isn't mentioned on the website and the photo has him at the tables. At Chef Mickey and Cape May he does come to every table for photos. I thought Cape May food offerings were the average fare - Crystal Palace had a few more options - but the opportunity to meet Donald is what dragged me in!

When we went back in 2008 Donald did cruise around the restaurant and did both times we went, its a shame that he doesn't. But funny, in that same trip when we went to Chef Mickey's Donald didn't cruise the tables there, he stood near the exit and there was a huge queue of people so we didn't even bother waiting as we had already seen him at Tusker House. I love Donald, he is so cute, that's really sad that he nolonger cruises the tables at Tusker House!

 

[queenie82]

We can eat breakfast on the run, however we do like to fill our tums well in the morning to give us energy for the day, so probably a warm counter service breakky rather than a muffin on the run for our family.

Totally with you there. We loved the morning buffet character breakfast and then not needing anything (except drinks) until mid afternoon.
That is one thing worth mentioning while I think of it...GO EARLY!!
Dining at Disney is 'reserved' at a particular time but the later you go the more you will wait generally. Although as a party of 4 (which is what they MOST cater for) it isn't as bad as it is for bigger groups.
The point being if you are going for breakfast get the first dining reservation of the day. For one you get finished earlier so more time for other things....but you also don't wait.

And I totally agree, we will definitely have character meals. We did 2 at Disneyland and I am thinking we need to do at least 3 at WDW. I think I have to do Cinderalla's table, just because I soooo want to eat in the castle (how old am I, hehe). The Crystal Palace reviews are usually really good and DH and kids are total Pooh fans. DD would die to see Mary Poppins but I so would want to see Donald and Minnie so who knows how it would pan out once we really research it LOL.

How old...you are NEVER too old
But I gotta say that one of the great things about 1900 Park Fare is that you get a bit of everything.
You get Tigger and Pooh (half the crystal palace gang), Alice and Mad Hatter (who interact and have fun...oh....and get a hot chocolate!! The Hatter LOVES that...hehe) and then there is Mary Poppins.
Crystal Palace is still good as well though...and especially with all the construction and demolition of Pooh Corner it is likely one of the few places you will be sure to find Piglet and Eeyore.

decisions decisions....

 

[ehsmum]

Queenie - did you do the Rose & Crown restaurant or pub? I'm thinking of having dinner there to watch Illuminations but can't decide whether to book the restaurant or just try for a lakeside table and get fish and chips from the pub.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Hahahahaha, how can you have eaten at all of those places and so many times?

You are clearly Disney obsessed. And are you truly going for 21 days, now that makes me green with envy.

 

[aussietravellers]

Hahahahaha, how can you have eaten at all of those places and so many times?

You are clearly Disney obsessed. And are you truly going for 21 days, now that makes me green with envy.

Yes I am a little Disney obsessed We've eaten at that many places because going for 21 nights in a trip, thats 64 meals in a trip and have been more than once so thats even more meals. So that list even with some of them more than once is only about 48 meals at TS in one trip so add more trips we have our favourites so have been multiple times and we prefer TS meals and having plenty of time there we were not rushed so enjoyed taking the time at different restaurants and experienceing different food and enviornments. Imagine after our next 22 night trip in Sept, that list will be growing as I have added a few new ones this trip to try. When paying OOP then its easy to just go and have a starter or to share a main course. Not all of those TS did we have entree, main and dessert, I think I only had dessert twice the whole 21 night trip.

Yes going for 21 or 22 nights . Have currently booked for 21 nights but will probably actually stay another night. We don't spend every day at Disney, we go other places and this trip we are going to Universal, Seaworld, Discovery Cove, very important shopping days (Mall at Millenia, Florida Mall, the two outlet malls Now shopping, that is what I am obsessed with), last time we went to Kennedy Space Center too when there was a rocket launch which was pretty cool.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Yes I am a little Disney obsessed We've eaten at that many places because going for 21 nights in a trip, thats 64 meals in a trip and have been more than once so thats even more meals. So that list even with some of them more than once is only about 48 meals at TS in one trip so add more trips we have our favourites so have been multiple times and we prefer TS meals and having plenty of time there we were not rushed so enjoyed taking the time at different restaurants and experienceing different food and enviornments. Imagine after our next 22 night trip in Sept, that list will be growing as I have added a few new ones this trip to try. When paying OOP then its easy to just go and have a starter or to share a main course. Not all of those TS did we have entree, main and dessert, I think I only had dessert twice the whole 21 night trip.

Yes going for 21 or 22 nights . Have currently booked for 21 nights but will probably actually stay another night. We don't spend every day at Disney, we go other places and this trip we are going to Universal, Seaworld, Discovery Cove, very important shopping days (Mall at Millenia, Florida Mall, the two outlet malls Now shopping, that is what I am obsessed with), last time we went to Kennedy Space Center too when there was a rocket launch which was pretty cool.

Wow, I am in awe of you, hehe. I have no idea how you afford it, but I so wish I was coming with you. I mentioned to my husband you were going for 21 nights, he thought it was a little crazy. But when I pointed out good shopping, Kennedy Space Centre, Universal, etc he kinda thought it wasn't so crazy after all

 

[ehsmum]

We've got 12 days in Orlando and it's not enough to do everything that I want to do. We won't be doing any shopping there as that will cut into our Disney/Universal time too much.

 

[queenie82]

Queenie - did you do the Rose & Crown restaurant or pub? I'm thinking of having dinner there to watch Illuminations but can't decide whether to book the restaurant or just try for a lakeside table and get fish and chips from the pub.

We went to the restaurant for dinner.
This restaurant isn't anything special really but we went there in part to see Illuminations from there. Which we did. We got a lakeside table and it was WONDERFUL.
I was never a HUGE Illuminations fan but I've come to really love it. And seeing it from the Rose and Crown if you get a lakeside table is just perfect.

Food wise I got the pork Loin which was very nice. But as good as it was it really wasn't much better than the one you can get at Sunshine Seasons in The Land as part of the counterservice. (Which is one of the BEST counterservice restaurants in the whole of WDW.)

When dining with the dining plan what drinks are included varies a LOT...so always ask for the FULL list.
We got Smoothies included here. Chocolate, Strawberry or Vanilla

Regarding just dining at the pub...I wouldn't bother. The Fish and Chips we get in Australia is far superior to anything in Disney. Even the fish we got at Coral Reef wasn't too impressive. I've had better Mahi Mahi at Mooloolaba for a much cheaper price.
The Americans are obsessed with the Fish and Chips here...but that is because they don't have the amazing fish and chips we get here.

 

[queenie82]

Just thought I would add this info I also wrote up a while ago for those considering the Counter service plan -

For Disney dining in the future there are WONDERFUL counter service options out there so I think I would do that plan in the future and then just a few table service.
- Sunshine Seasons is by far the best. As I mentioned the Pork Lion is great. The asian dishes are also nice.
And the desserts - Strawberry Shortcake
- Mara at Animal Kingdom Jambo House. I really liked this place as it was convenient. There were great snacks - zebra domes anyone - and the counterservice food wasn't really african so really nice.
- Caribbean beach. LOVED this place. Burgers are great. The grill has great options as well but was always closed by the time we got there. And the drinks, you can get frozen/smoothie type things included.
Most stuff is open until 10 or 11pm at CB
- Flame Tree BBQ...nuff said
- Fairfax fare at DHS lunch was really great I thought. Ribs and Beef Brisket was delicious. It isn't great value if you are paying but it is GREAT on the dining plan. We sometimes mixed and matched because dad doesn't like chicken on the bone so we would get ribs and brisket and chicken and brisket and give him all the brisket and some one would have the ribs and the other the chicken. HUGE servings
- Cosmic Rays was fun.
- Columbia Harbour House was very nice as always.